Trying to facilitiate human flourishing and happiness should be among the first goals of any policymaker. In all the endless discussions we have about economic growth, social capital, labour productivity, and debt levels, what we often don’t talk about is the reason we pursue all these policies.
The answer is (or should be) very simple – we want to help people to live well. So what are the things that tend to make people happy? Dr Edel Walsh analysed data from the European Social Survery 2010, taken at the height of the recession – and the answers might surprise you.
I’ve always been a little bit sceptical of self-reported well-being as a metric for true happiness: I’ve wondered if the fact that Irish people consistently report being among the happiest in Europe has more to do with what we tell pollsters than it does with our actual state of being.
One of the first things that’s interesting about reading Dr Walsh’s research is the amount of other studies she references that show that self-reported well-being is correlated with a number of very measurable metrics. Countries with higher levels of well-being tend to have lower suicide and divorce rates. Workers in societies with high levels of wellbeing tend to have lower rates of absenteeism amd greater labour productivity.
It’s not that this is why wellbeing is good – happiness is good in itself. But these indicators do suggest that self-reported happiness might be more related to real happiness than I’d thought.
The European Social Survey measured “life satisfaction” on a scale from 0 (extremely dissatisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied).
And the factors it found that made a difference? I’ll list a few:
* The unemployed were 1.5 points less satisfied (on the 0 to 10 scale) than those with a job.
* On the other hand, income didn’t make a huge difference. A ten per cent increase in income only yielded a 0.07 point increase in wellbeing.
* People living in rural areas were half a point happier than those living in cities.
* Having children made people 0.3 points happier, and having religion play an active role their daily lives lead to a further 0.3 point increase.
* Finally, those over 65 tended to be 1.5 points happier than people in their 40s. Those aged 15-24 were happier than the 40 somethings by 1.3 points.
Interestingly, the increase in happiness that came after retirement was only present for people whose families were intact – those who did not go through divorce or separation, according to news reports. Having regular social contact, being a trusting person, and discussing things regularly as opposed to to remaining silent were all correlated with greater happiness.
Irish people tended to be happier than the OECD average of 6.6 on the 10 point scale: and though women tended to be more satisfied than men (7.2 points as opposed to 6.7) there was no signficant differences in the factors that lead to happiness for men and women.
What emerges is a pretty clear picture: the least fashionable people in Ireland – rural pensioners with intact families for whom religion plays an important role in their lives – tend to be the happiest. Policymakers, politicians and philosophers should take note.