Formula for happiness

I am happy to tell you that somebody has finally found out what makes us happy and has measured the happiness factor as well.

I wondered what was the reason why most Canadians were smiling when I was in Toronto last month and found out that the country had been listed in the top 9 of the "happiness index".

The "World Database of Happiness" has been created by a European academic, Rutt Veenhoven, and now lists 95 countries. The UAE is yet to be listed in the happiness database.

The top happiest countries are Denmark, Switzerland, Colombia, Austria, Iceland, Finland, Australia, Sweden and Canada. Canadians were smirking even more because the US was 17th place down in the list.

So, what makes people happy? A juicy burger at less than Dh10? Good healthcare? A nice paying job? Owning a home? A caring partner?

Veenhoven says he was motivated in his research by a desire to promote happiness. First, he needed to define happiness and find out what makes people happy.

"My definition of happiness is how much you like the life you live. That's something you know. And that's something you can measure by asking people, and of course you must do that in a systematic way," he is quoted as saying.

Gender equality

Almost all the top countries are rich, but money apparently is not the only factor that makes people happy. The researcher notes that there is "lot of gender equality" in these countries and the societies are fairly tolerant.

The research was done through anonymous questionnaires, but self reporting would be dangerously inaccurate, he notes. "Drug addicts for instance, would likely say they are always happy."

So he used some measures and asked people about the quality of society at large.

Next was on the quality of the organisations where we work - how good your employer is for you, and how nice the school is for your children.

The last was on personal choices. "Some people make more out of life than others," he says.

Not satisfied

Some interesting results were that citizens in welfare states were not as satisfied with their lives as those in purer free-market economies.

The study found that people are happier if they can make choices in their lives. In some rich countries where personal choice was limited, people tended to be less happy than other equally rich countries. He calls this the "Freedom Factor".

"Freedom of choice is particularly relevant. If we get stuck in a way of life that makes us unhappy and then we have a way out, we can leave an unhappy marriage. Divorce is no fun but you can get out. And you can also leave unsatisfying jobs. In collectivistic cultures (such as Japan), it's less possible," he says.

The other major factor is spirituality. The study finds that nations in which citizens are religious are typically slightly happier. But then again the researcher believes it is the social effects of your religion which accounts for the happiness.

The researcher says that more countries are now thinking beyond the traditional measures of GNP and economic growth, and looking more at individuals and what makes them satisfied.

As for me, I personally believe that money and lots of it, brings happiness. I could buy a luxury car, hire a chauffeur and zip down Shaikh Zayed Road reading the latest stock market prices online, without worrying about Salik.

A million dollars would be nice to start with and I have been desperately buying raffle tickets ever since I arrived here. "Why do you want more?" asks my son, when I tell him about my dreams of winning the jackpot.

He thinks that money is not good for anything, except maybe to buy the Nintendo which he has been vying for a long time.