There is an avalanche of new research in the areas of success and happiness. Perhaps the leading light in this field is Dr. Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania research psychologist, who has boiled down true happiness to three components: pleasure (things that feel good), involvement (being immersed in things like family, work, and hobbies), and meaning (using personal strengths to serve a larger end).
Of the three, Seligman says, pleasure (the one most closely linked to material gain) is the least consequential, a finding that has been reaffirmed in numerous follow-up studies worldwide. For example, studies by Dr. Ruut Veenhoven, a sociologist at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, show that the extremely poor -- those earning less than $10,000 a year -- may be rendered unhappy by the relentless stress of poverty. Yet his work shows that after a poor person's income exceeds that level there is no further correlation between money and happiness. After a certain level of income, typically enough to meet basic expenses, money ceases to be a factor.
Money and happiness, it seems, really do not go hand in hand -- at least not in the manner you would expect. The World Database of Happiness presents one of the most interesting examinations into whether or not money buys happiness. This database is an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life. The scores are based on responses to a question about satisfaction with life and perceptions of personal well-being, the answers to which were rated on a numerical scale ranging from dissatisfied to satisfied. Rating scales ranged from 0 to 10.
As you can see from the following list, when you place each country's GDP per capita (in current U.S. dollars), there is not very much correlation between how much money people make and how happy they feel. For example, Guatemalans have the same happiness score as Canadians, although their income is only one-eighth as much. What does tend to reliably correlate with happiness is the quality of relationships with family and friends and a personal sense of belonging to one's community.
| Ranking | Country | Score | National GDP Per Capita |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denmark | 8.2 | $37,400 |
| 2 | Colombia | 8.1 | $6,700 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 8.1 | $41,100 |
| 4 | Austria | 8.0 | $38,400 |
| 5 | Iceland | 7.8 | $38,800 |
| 6 | Australia | 7.7 | $36,300 |
| 7 | Finland | 7.7 | $35,300 |
| 8 | Sweden | 7.7 | $36,500 |
| 9 | Canada | 7.6 | $38,400 |
| 10 | Guatemala | 7.6 | $4,700 |
| 11 | Ireland | 7.6 | $43,100 |
| 12 | Luxembourg | 7.6 | $80,500 |
| 13 | Mexico | 7.6 | $12,800 |
| 14 | Norway | 7.6 | $53,000 |
| 15 | Netherlands | 7.5 | $38,500 |
| 16 | Malta | 7.5 | $22,900 |
| 17 | United States | 7.4 | $45,800 |
| 18 | Belgium | 7.3 | $35,300 |
| 19 | El Salvador | 7.2 | $5,800 |
| 20 | New Zealand | 7.2 | $26,400 |
| 21 | Germany | 7.2 | $34,200 |
| 22 | United Kingdom | 7.1 | $35,100 |
| 23 | Honduras | 7.1 | $4,100 |
| 24 | Kuwait | 7.0 | $39,300 |
| 25 | Saudi Arabia | 7.0 | $23,200 |
| 26 | Cyprus | 6.9 | $27,400 |
| 27 | Italy | 6.9 | $30,400 |
| 28 | Spain | 6.9 | $30,100 |
| 29 | Argentina | 6.8 | $13,300 |
| 30 | Brazil | 6.8 | $9,700 |
| 31 | Dominican Republic | 6.8 | $7,000 |
| 32 | Singapore | 6.8 | $49,700 |
| 33 | Venezuela | 6.8 | $12,200 |
| 34 | Chile | 6.7 | $13,900 |
| 35 | Israel | 6.7 | $25,800 |
| 36 | Slovenia | 6.7 | $27,200 |
| 37 | Uruguay | 6.7 | $11,600 |
| 38 | Indonesia | 6.6 | $3,700 |
| 39 | France | 6.5 | $33,200 |
| 40 | Czech Republic | 6.4 | $24,200 |
| 41 | Greece | 6.4 | $29,200 |
| 42 | Nigeria | 6.4 | $2,000 |
| 43 | Philippines | 6.4 | $3,400 |
| 44 | China | 6.3 | $5,300 |
| 45 | India | 6.2 | $2,700 |
| 46 | Japan | 6.2 | $33,600 |
| 47 | Taiwan | 6.2 | $30,100 |
| 48 | Uzbekistan | 6.2 | $2,300 |
| 49 | Kyrgyzstan | 6.1 | $2,000 |
| 50 | Vietnam | 6.1 | $2,600 |
| 51 | Iran | 6.0 | $10,600 |
| 52 | Peru | 6.0 | $7,800 |
| 53 | Portugal | 6.0 | $21,700 |
| 54 | Croatia | 5.9 | $15,500 |
| 55 | Poland | 5.9 | $16,300 |
| 56 | Bolivia | 5.8 | $4,000 |
| 57 | Korea, South | 5.8 | $24,800 |
| 58 | Bangladesh | 5.7 | $1,300 |
| 59 | Senegal | 5.7 | $1,700 |
| 60 | Hungary | 5.6 | $19,000 |
| 61 | Morocco | 5.6 | $4,100 |
| 62 | Montenegro | 5.5 | $3,800 |
| 63 | Slovakia | 5.5 | $20,300 |
| 64 | South Africa | 5.5 | $9,800 |
| 65 | Lebanon | 5.3 | $11,300 |
| 66 | Algeria | 5.2 | $6,500 |
| 67 | Jordan | 5.2 | $4,900 |
| 68 | Kenya | 5.2 | $1,700 |
| 69 | Turkey | 5.2 | $12,900 |
| 70 | Bosnia/Herzegovina | 5.1 | $7,000 |
| 71 | Estonia | 5.1 | $21,100 |
| 72 | Serbia | 5.1 | $10,400 |
| 73 | Uganda | 5.1 | $900 |
| 74 | Romania | 5.0 | $11,400 |
| 75 | Azerbaijan | 4.9 | $7,700 |
| 76 | Macedonia | 4.9 | $8,500 |
| 77 | Mali | 4.9 | $1,000 |
| 78 | Egypt | 4.8 | $5,500 |
| 79 | Ghana | 4.8 | $1,400 |
| 80 | Iraq | 4.7 | $3,600 |
| 81 | Latvia | 4.7 | $17,400 |
| 82 | Lithuania | 4.6 | $17,700 |
| 83 | Albania | 4.4 | $6,300 |
| 84 | Angola | 4.4 | $5,600 |
| 85 | Russia | 4.4 | $14,700 |
| 86 | Pakistan | 4.3 | $2,600 |
| 87 | Bulgaria | 4.2 | $11,300 |
| 88 | Georgia | 4.1 | $4,700 |
| 89 | Belarus | 4.0 | $10,900 |
| 90 | Armenia | 3.7 | $4,900 |
| 91 | Ukraine | 3.6 | $6,900 |
| 92 | Moldova | 3.5 | $2,900 |
| 93 | Zimbabwe | 3.3 | $200 |
| 94 | Tanzania | 3.2 | $1,300 |
Consider this: in surveys such as this one, the impoverished people of Calcutta, India, living in crude shacks and with little access to clean water, register about even with Americans on the happiness scale -- and well ahead of the Chinese, South Koreans, and Japanese. Meanwhile, relatively poor Puerto Ricans and Columbians, appear to be among the happiest people on the globe.
But underlying these thought-provoking results is the simple fact that more is not necessarily better when it comes to enjoying life and feeling satisfied. More may be more, but it is never enough. We're caught up in the myth that by achieving and going up the ladder and having more stuff we'll feel full inside. Yet it isn't so.
Some years ago I was helping Jimmy Carter gather his thoughts for his book Virtues of Aging, and at one point I said to him, "President Carter, I have a crazy question for you. I'm about the age now that you were when you were president. Have you come to any new perspectives about what matters in life, now that you're older?" His answer was to the point: "Earlier in my life I thought the things that mattered were the things that you could see, like your car, your house, your wealth, your property, your office. But as I've grown older I've become convinced that the things that matter most are the things that you can't see -- the love you share with others, your inner purpose, your comfort with who you are."
So here's the thing. At the end of the day, it may be wisest to judge each of our own life successes not from the outside looking in but from the inside out. It's not about the material things I can show the world, but about how I feel about the work I do; it's about the relationships I have and the love I share.
It may well be, as novelist Edith Wharton said, that "if only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time."
Adapted from With Purpose: Going From Success to Significance in Work and Life by Ken Dychtwald Ph.D. and Daniel J. Kadlec (Collins Life 3/09).
Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D. is a psychologist, gerontologist and author of sixteen books on aging, life transitions, and retirement-related issues including Age Wave, The Power Years, and his new book, With Purpose: Going from Success to Significance in Work and Life (with Daniel J. Kadlec, Collins Life; 3/09). The founding CEO of Age Wave, he lives with his wife and children in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In our society, we are overly focused on “achieving wealth and fame”. Filling up the internal holes from the outside is the underpinning for much unhappiness such as addiction. Having goals are great but are only fulfilling as they relate to our life’s purpose. I would say that if people feel meaning in their lives many other things fall into place on the happiness scale.
Keep up your great work Ken and a pleasure to connect with you here on Huffington Post.
Dr. Jennifer Howard
http://www.DrJenniferHoward.com
More telling about this study is that the happier counties all live in better environments and less happy countries live in harsher, more polluted ones. The counties toward the top of the list also tend to have cultures that are more relaxed and democratic. In short, much more research is needed to support the assumptions made by this study. I'm sure you'll find that millionaires are much more likely to be happy than those living in poverty. Money may not buy happiness, but those who've earned it are more likely to have a satisfaction with life not felt by those who struggle just to get by. So don't let this study coax you into a false sense of satisfaction that being rich ain't what it's cracked up to be...even though that notion may be comforting to a lot of us right now. Feel rich first, the material part will follow.
My mom was wronglt hospice & I was thrown out of the hospital for pulling her out the 1st time. He last words to me was "make them stop!" The dental & medical University of Buffalo kept my teeth like jewels. My professor died. I need an extreme makeover now. They tore mt perfect mouth th shreds, then threw me out. The bone is ost & myskin started sagging, but I'm now broke & on disability & need over $30,000.00 just for the teeth. Geico refused the trheapy I needed, so now I'm in pain 24/7 & on meds. My family never needed meds.
I ca'nt afford glasses, a car, a smile, chewing healthy food & no dating. From the pearl of the world's oyster to poverty, completely alone, & in pain that could be fixed.
I wish someone would take me, heal me like I did so many others, & use me to help others. Extreme makeover, where are you? Now I need help & it's hard when you were the one that was the helper.
Not to mention it seems like people have changed & become cold & calloused. If they're happy, they could care less about you. I use to love to share my happiness, it made me even happier. Now I have not one person left that would give me a hand up to get me back on my feet. I still do not regret sharing everything I had for one minute.
He would ask them a question, "What is life like for you here?" If they answered, "Life can be hard, but for the most part life is good. It all depends on what you yourself put into it." The man would answer, "You will find the west is just the same way."
If the person answered, "Life is not worth living. People are miserable. They are not worth a dime." The man would give the same answer as before, "You will find the west is just the same way."
One reason why some people are so miserable all the time is that they cannot get rid of the person who is making them miserable... themselves.
Hardship does not necessarily mean unhappiness and material comforts do not necissarily mean happiness.
(Other things being equal) People are generally happiest in the summer and saddest in the winter period.
Of course when you move to lrge town and near the borders things are different.
That reminds me of the beautiful African documentary "The Gods Must Be Crazy" .
How some Bush people in Africa was living peacefully until someone threw a coca cola bottle from a plane and landed in front of them. At first it was useful, they could grind their grains, help them tan skins but it became a source of discontentment when the fought posession over it. It can be used as a weapon over the head also! Thus began the journey of a Bushman to return this unwanted present to the owner.
Regardless, progress is a double-edged sword. Just as 'back to the forests' utopias.
Things that make me happy - exercising with my dogs, re-reading exceptionally good books, and just talking with my wife and daughter.
Simpler things seem to work better. I could buy a new computer game, struggle with it and end up wasting time, or practise martial arts forms with a simple 6 foot stick. The stick never fails, needs a patch, hangs up, has a power failure, or requires me to buy more hardware and make backups. It never becomes obsolete, never grows incompatible with the latest OS. The more I use it, the stronger, faster fitter and better I become.
(i) Are the happy uneducated and/or poor people happy just because they happen to be ignorant and we all know that ignorance is bliss anyway? What happens when people get more educated...do they become happier or not?
(ii) How is happiness distributed within rich democratic countries? Within poor democratic ones? Within rich UNdemocratic ones like Saudi Arabia? Within poor UNdemocratic ones?
(iii) How does happiness change over the course of peoples' lives in these various settings?
(iv) Does "acceptance within one's community" mean being like everyone else in that community or does it mean that the community cherishes and encourages individuality i.e. being able to express yourself in ways unique to yourself? Remember that being openly gay and having other progressive viewpoints is generally not accepted outside the western democratic countries.
(v) How does religion influence happiness?
(vi) Are there (there HAVE to be) genetic factors that influence how happy you will be?