where the happiness comes from?

 

How are we supposed to find happiness? to find happiness? Through good works and helping people? By finding religion or discovering the joys of downshifting? Whatever strategy you choose, where you live might make a difference. The latest global analysis of happiness and satisfaction levels shows that the most 'satisfied' people tend to live Latin America, Western Europe and North America, whereas Eastern Europeans are the least satisfied.

 

It is not the first time such international league tables have been drawn up. What is new is how experts and politicians are talking such data increasingly seriously. Over the past decade, the study of happiness, formerly the preserve of philosophers, therapists, and gurus, has become a bona fide discipline. It even has its own journal, the Journal of Happiness Studies. As a result, government policy advisers are getting interested, and politicians are using the research as the basis for new strategies.

 

What above all else has made systematic study possible is data gathered from hundreds of surveys measuring happiness across different cultures, professions, religions, and socio-economic groups? Researchers can investigate the impact of money and inequality; they could explore, for example,how much difference money makes to a person's happiness after their basic material needs have been met, and whether inequality in wealth and status is as important a source of dissatisfaction as we might think. 'It is an exciting area', says Ruut Veenhoven, editor-in-chief of the Journal of happiness studies. 'We can now show which behaviours are risky as far as happiness goes, in the same way, medical research shows what is bad for our health. We should eventually be able to show what kind of lifestyle suits what kind of person.'

 

While it is tempting to hold up those nations that report the highest levels of happiness as a model for others to follow, this may be unwise. For one thing, the word 'happiness' has no precise equivalent in some languages. Another complication is that 'satisfaction' is not quite the same thing as 'happiness'.

When asked how happy they are, people tend to consider first their current state. To get a better idea, researchers ask people to take a step back and consider how satisfied they are with their lives overall and how meaningful they judge their lives to be.

 

Comparisons between countries also need to be treated cautiously. Different cultures value happiness in very different ways. In individualistic western countries, happiness is often seen as a reflection of personal achievement. Being unhappy implies that you have not made the most of your life. Eunkook Mark Suh at Yonsei University in Seoul thinks this pressure to be happy could lead people to over-report how happy they feel. Meanwhile, in the more collectivist nations of Asia, people have a more fatalistic attitude towards happiness. According to Suh,'One of the consequences of such an attitude is that you do not have to feel inferior or guilty about not being very happy.'

Indeed, in Asian cultures, the pursuit of happiness is often frowned on, which in turn could lead people to under-report.

 

How satisfied a person is with their life also depends on how successfully they adhere to their particular cultural standard. In Japan, for instance, satisfaction may come from fulfilling family expectations and meeting social responsibilities. So, while in the US it is perfectly appropriate to pursue your own happiness, in Japan you are more likely to find happiness by not pursuing it directly.

 

One of the most significant observations to come from research findings is that in industrialized nations, happiness has not risen with average incomes. A growing number of researchers are putting this down to consumerism, claiming that the desire for material goods, which has increased with average income, is a 'happiness suppressant'.

One study, by Tim Kasser at Knox College, Illinois, found that young adults who focus on money, image and fame tend to be more depressed and suffer more physical symptoms such as headaches. Kasser believes that since nothing about materialism can help you find happiness, governments should discourage it and instead promote things that can. For instance, they could support businesses that allow their employees plenty of time off to be with their families, whereas advertising could be classified as a form of pollution and could be taxed. 'Advertisements have become more sophisticated,' says Kasser. ' They try to tie their message to people's psychological needs. But it is a false link. It is toxic.'

 

These days even hard-headed economists tend to agree that the key to making people happier is to shift the emphasis from economic well-being to personal development, and to discourage the pursuit of social status. This last point is crucial, believes Richard Layard from the London Shcool of Economics, since the pursuit of social status does not make society as a whole any happier. Motivating people through the quest for rank 'condemns as many to fail as to succeed - not a good formula for raising human happiness,' says Layard.

 

In view of these findings, it seems that government would do well to worry about the happiness of their electorate. There could be dangers, however. Paradoxically, by striving too hard to climb the global happiness into yet another competitive quest for status - just what researchers have shown is a sure path to making people miserable.