Dear Friends,

Did you ever think how your income influences your happiness and wellbeing? Or may be how your income and level of richness compares with that of your friends or neighbors? And lastly how all these parameters affect your health and longevity?

Well, answers are not simple. We are looking into issues that are controlled by many factors. However research over the last few decades, have been shedding light, enlarging the spectrum of our knowledge. Definitely this level of analysis and introspection, can help us see and understand better our everyday behavior.

Definitely, money is not the key to happiness. Family networks and having a full life outside work may achieve this. Individuals usually get richer during their lifetimes,  but not necessarily happier.

Research from Mexico, Ghana, Sweden, USA and the UK shows that despite vastly different levels of wealth, citizens of these countries report similar levels of satisfaction. And most advanced nations have seen almost no change to individuals' happiness levels over the last 50 years, despite a huge hike in income.

This may be because people don't experience wealth without comparing it to others. As we realise one set of aspirations, it seems we immediately trade up to a more expensive set, to which we transfer our hopes for happiness.

Happiness also affects health. In countries where people are unhappy, their life expectancy is dropping.

You will find more information on this timely topic in the article Money can buy you happiness but only relative to your peer's income that you will find attached with our 46th Progressive Newsletter.

Chances of happiness, apart money and income, can be improved by other factors as well such as physical health, education and marital status. Married people live on average three years longer and have better health and wellbeing than the unmarried. Well developed family, social and community networks – "social capital" – also have a positive effect.

Work is key to individual satisfaction, adds the author. Scant control over workload or decision-making correlates with lower happiness levels. And "make sure you're not working so hard that you've no time left for personal relationships and leisure", says the author.

The happiness of citizens should be the business of every government, that should be as answerable on happiness levels as they are on a nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

 
Takis A. Haggiandreou
Director
 

Back to the top

While income is important in determining happiness, data collected showed that physical health was the best single predictor of happiness, followed by income, education, and marital status. The researchers found a relative income effect, the richer you are relative to your age peers, the happier you will tend to be.

Our Quote:

"Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked."

Lord Chesterfield