World Happiness Report

World Happiness Report (WHR) 2018

  • Prepared by UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network:
  • The World Happiness Report (WHR) 2018, which ranked 156 countries, placed India at the 133rd place on the index of global happiness.
  • The top three countries are Finland, Norway and Denmark. It is released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
  • It is based on income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity.
  • While India’s performance on this can be attributed to several factors, there is an fact that there is an intrinsic relationship between law and people’s happiness.
  • The WHRs, over the years, confirmed that people tend to have:
    • Poor mental health,
    • A low score of subjective well-being and
    • Poor perception about the governance and law and order, despite high income levels.

Indian States and Efforts to Happiness

  • The Madhya Pradesh government had earlier popularised the concept of Happiness index department in the country by setting up an ‘Anand Vibhag’, or the happiness department, in 2016 to think of ways to make people happy and content.
  • Both in Andhra and Madhya Pradesh they have been organising a range of festive events in villages and schools to promote the idea of inner well-being, and boast a membership of more than 32,000 “happiness volunteers” who are setting up happiness clubs at the ground level.
  • The department also set up a Rajya Anand Sansthan, or a state happiness society, a body that includes members from the government’s education, sports, culture and health departments, to promote collaboration between them while planning activities to promote happiness.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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