Happiness Indicators

How about measuring happiness?

Measuring Happiness

• Very young science

• But there are measures out there

• Potentially great impact on decision making

Gross National Happiness

• Quantitative measurement of well-being and quality of life

• Measure of progress

• Representative periodic surveys

• gross national happiness index

Gross National Happiness Index

based on

• equitable social development• cultural preservation• conservation of the environment• promotion of good governance

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Impact on Education• deep critical and creative thinking, • ecological literacy, • practice of the country’s profound, ancient wisdom and

culture, • contemplative learning, • a holistic understanding of the world, • genuine care for nature and for others, • competency to deal effectively with the modern world, • preparation for right livelihood, and • informed civic engagement.

OECD – Better Life Index

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OECD Better Life Index

• www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org

• Goal: involve people in the debate

• Assign importance to each category

• 11 categories essential to well-being

11 categories essential to well-being

material living conditions• housing• income• jobs

quality of life• community• education• environment• governance• health• life satisfaction• safety• work-life balance

Facebook‘s approach• Analyzing the use of emotion words for

approximately 100 million Facebook users

• word use in status updates ≈ self-reported satisfaction with life

• represents overall emotional health of the nation

• importance of tracking such metrics.

Again: What do with ‘happiness indicators’?

• systematically measure subjective wellbeing as part of a broader national accounting system

• use these data to inform policy choices

The UK approach

among the first to officially monitor ‘happiness’

• how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?• how happy did you feel yesterday?• how anxious did you feel yesterday?• to what extent do you feel the things you do in

your life are worthwhile?

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United Kingdom Prime Minister Cameron

That’s it.