The Origins of Happiness

The Origins of Happiness

Some Key Findings

• Income. Within most advanced countries income

differences explain only 1% of the variation in hap-

piness across people (other things equal),^2 while

all the factors we can identify explain 15% of the

variation. Doubling a person’s income raises their

happiness by under 0.2 points (on a scale of 0– 10).

Moreover people care largely about their income

relative to other people. So general increases in in-

come have very small impacts on overall happiness

in a society.

• Unemployment. By contrast unemployment is in it-

self an unalloyed bad. It reduces the happiness of

each unemployed person by about 0.7 points on

average. And it also creates fear and unease among

people who are in work: the unemployment of one

person reduces the aggregate happiness of the rest

of the community by another 2.0 points. So eco-

nomic policy should give strong priority to the aim

of economic stability,^3 and less importance to the

aim of long- term economic growth.

• Family life. Being partnered rather than single raises

happiness by 0.6 points, and losing a partner by

separation or death reduces happiness by a roughly

equal amount. As with being employed, people

need to be needed, and to be in meaningful rela-

tionships.

• Mental health. The biggest single predictor of indi-

vidual happiness is mental health. Suffering from

depression or anxiety disorders is more common