23 Apr 3 Happiness Tips From This Year’s World Happiness Report
via Psychology Today by Mark Travers
KEY POINTS
- Living in a caring society tends to make people happier than making more money.
- Having a job is a key contributor to happiness.
- A sense of belonging, flexibility, and purpose at work were especially beneficial for psychological well-being.
Source: Rawpixel / Pxhere
Each year, the World Happiness Report provides a comprehensive ranking of the happiest countries in the world. For the fourth year in a row, Finland earned the ranking as the world’s happiest country, with Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands not far behind.
While there is much to be gained from the country-by-country comparisons, another way to read the report is to look for the hidden nuggets of insight that we can use to become happier in our own lives. Here are three insights from this year’s report that should not be overlooked.
Insight #1: Benevolence matters more to happiness than salary
The data clearly show that people are happier in societies where there is a high degree of trust between people. One way we know this is from a hypothetical “benevolence” question included in the World Happiness Report, which reads:
“Imagine that you lost a wallet or purse that contained $200. Please indicate how likely you think it would be to have all of your money returned to you if it was found by someone who lives close by.”
People who think their lost wallet is very likely to be returned with all of the money are approximately 1 point happier on a 0 to 10 happiness scale. That’s significant, as it represents the average happiness difference between citizens of Finland (ranked 1st in happiness) and the Czech Republic (ranked 16th) or citizens of the United States (ranked 14th) and Mongolia (ranked 45th).
Another way to quantify the effect of societal benevolence on happiness is to compare it to other factors that influence happiness. Here, the researchers estimate that benevolence carries more than twice as much weight as what would be expected from doubling one’s annual salary. In other words, salary matters, but living in a benevolent society matters more — a lot more.
“There is a happiness bonus when people get a chance to see the goodness of others in action, and to be of service themselves,” say the researchers…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE