What Is Happiness Index & How Does It Work

Are you aware of the happiness Index? Did you know about the national happiness ranking? Happiness Index is based on survey results where the respondents had to rate their happiness on the scale of 0-10. The survey results are being averaged to calculate the happiness Index.

According to the Tracking happiness reports, a group of academic happiness specialists came together to form the Global Happiness Council and formulated the Happiness Index. Since 2012, they have worked towards releasing the World Happiness Report (WHR).

The Happiness Index was defined as, “The Happiness Index is the weighted (sampling weights) rate of respondents reporting ‘Very happy’ or ‘Quite happy’ less weighted rate of respondents reporting ‘Not very happy’ or ‘Not at all happy,’ plus 100. As a result, the index ranges from 0 to 200.”

The World Happiness Report of 2018 did not include the term Happiness Index, instead it determined the concept as Happiness Ladder. Consider a step numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder shows the best possible life and the bottom depicts the worst possible life for you. This type of Happiness ladder is well-known as the Cantril Ladder. It estimates the people’s satisfaction and happiness in life.

The World Happiness Report has various key variables that are related to the Happiness Index. Happiness is related to a country’s wealth and therefore GDP per capita income is one key element of the Happiness Index.

The other important factors are healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceptions of corruption and social support.

The World Happiness Report estimates the happiness explained by the key factors and then derives the Happiness Index.

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Also Read: Why Does India Rank 139 In The World Happiness Index