Family, friendship and relationships are the number one factor in why people invest in the pursuit of happiness; we all love the feeling of being loved. The Ipsos Global happiness survey, which asked 18,000 people in 24 countries questions about how happy they are, has positively reported that people are happier now than they were in 2007.
Indonesians, Indians, Mexicans, Brazilians and Turks were the top five happiest people, showing that family and community-oriented cultures produce a greater sense of wellbeing and happiness in people. Equally the survey has proved the old saying of “Money can’t buy you happiness” is correct with wealthy nations including Canada and Britain only ranking in the middle of the survey index.
The Ipsos survey is just one of many that have been undertaken over the years to identify which nations and people are the happiest or have the most life satisfaction. Frequent high scorers in these surveys are South American and Pacific Island countries where Church and family play an essential role in how people live their lives. For instance Costa Rica regularly scores high in the happiness stakes and Brazil is also moving up the list.
In 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron commissioned a happiness and wellbeing survey to take the temperature check of the nation. Results showed that at least 70% of people rated themselves as at least a 7 out of 10 on how happy they are. Despite the survey taking in place in the midst of a worrying economic outlook and carried out during the London riots, the results show that there is more to a country’s wellbeing than just overall GDP.
