Bhutan Makes Bid for Olympics

The prince doing archery, Bhutan's national sport.
From Bhutan-360.

Today Xinhuanet reports that Gross National Happiness pioneer Bhutan is now interested in hosting the Olympics. Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck, the 26-year-old heir to the throne of Bhutan, is also president of Bhutan's Olympic committee.

With 60% of the country's population aged between 10 and 29 years old, the prince says that sports play an important role in alleviating social problems. He explains, "With increasing migration to the city, there are more social problems, and sports can play an important role in decreasing youth criminal rate."

Since Bhutan focuses on citizen wellbeing rather than money, its sporting industry is not as developed as those of other countries. Now the Olympic committee has members from departments of finance, agriculture, and statistics to help Bhutan compete on an international level.

Bhutan Starts Marketing Its Brand of Happiness

A look at the new brand. From The Independent.

Today The Independent reports that positive psychology paradise Bhutan is opening up its marketing floodgates. Having convinced many other countries that happiness is worth measuring (as evidenced by the recent spate of nations adopting Gross National Happiness measures), Bhutan now wants to convince tourists. The Tourism Council of Bhutan hopes to do this with their new branding slogan:  "Bhutan, happiness is a place."

According to the story, Bhutanese tourism started in 1974, only two years after King Jigme Singye Wangchuck started this whole Gross National Happiness thing. Tourism has grown in recent years, but Bhutan wants visitors who don't impact the environment or culture, preferring low-key visits with larger financial contributions. The government calls these visitors "high-end" tourists.

Last year, Bhutan received 40,873 of these high-end tourists, well over its goal of 35,000. By 2013, the country is hopes to receive at least 100,000 annually. They hope that this marketing campaign attracts people who respect tradition and the environment.

So if you're filthy rich but not filthy, think of Bhutan for your next vacation!

China's Prime Minister Orders Officials to Make People Happy

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. From The Telegraph.

Continuing last week's China coverage, today The Telegraph reports that Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao plans to judge officials on how effectively they make people happy. He says that citizen happiness in each official's province is more important than "how many high-rise buildings and projects [the official] had been involved in." These statements are a prelude to China's version of parliament, the National People's Congress, which convenes this weekend.

However, before you start thinking that China is sincere in turning a new leaf with Bhutan-like Gross National Happiness measures, consider that this new "focus on happiness" is largely a cynical reaction to the current protests in the Middle East; a tactic meant to stop the protests from spreading. In fact, China has actually ramped up its online censorship and harassment of the foreign press, recently arresting around 100 protesters.

But that doesn't stop Chinese officials from ACTING like they care. As one official put it, "It's all about making people happy these days. Happy, happy, happy, that's the only word that counts at the moment." Communist newspaper The People's Daily also gets in on the act, writing, "Let happiness take off among the masses." The Communist Party has repeated "happiness" so often that it has replaced their previous favorite buzzword, "harmony."

So we'll have to keep an eye on China and see whether these new policies have any effect. Chinese citizens can usually see through propaganda campaigns, so Chinese officials may want to start delivering on their promises.

Britain Starts Their Happiness Survey

Prime Minister David Cameron and an anonymous dog.
From Green Consultancy.

Yes, as reported back in November, Britain plans to focus on the wellbeing of its citizens. Well, now The Telegraph reports that the nation's first official happiness survey is afoot. This first batch will cover 200,000 people over the age of 16, asking them to rate themselves on the following questions on a scale of 0 to 10:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
• Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

Future questions will probably focus on more specific areas, such as the state of their marriage, friendships, and health. Paul Allin, head of the wellbeing project, expects the large sample size to rule out most dishonest answers, saying, "We essentially trust people to give us the answers they give us and we will work what they say."

The whole initiative comes from Prime Minister David Cameron's belief that governments play a role in helping their citizens "feel better." It is run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and has a current budget of £2 million a year. Previous surveys show that Britain's life satisfaction has failed to keep up with its GDP over the last 40 years.

China May Start Caring About Happiness

Well, that was easy! Everyone in China is already happy,
if this 100%-accurate portrait is any indication.
From Cultural Revolution Artifacts.

Here in America, today is Presidents Day, but for our Chinese friends on the other side of the world, it is the start of a new five-year plan. According to this story from China.org.cn, Chinese leaders may start prioritizing the happiness of its citizens. However, before you start thinking this will turn into a Bhutan-like Gross National Happiness program, it seems that the Chinese system will be much more focused on economic measures.

For instance, instead of emphasizing the measurement of happiness, Beijing plans to lower its GDP by one percent and raise income for its residents by two percent. Other cities will go through similar adjustments, and social security programs will also be revamped. Shanxi Province in northern China plans to add freelance, migrant workers, and farmers to its social security network, and Shandong Province will aid disadvantaged residents when prices rise. Other provinces also want to improve their social services while lowering GDP.

These policies act as a response to survey results that show citizens believe economic issues to be most important. Out of 11,519 respondents, around 30% believe "economic status," "quality of life," and "public services" are the three primary factors in their happiness.

(Remember to click my Gross National Happiness tag to read what other countries are doing with regards to happiness.)

Brazilian Lawmakers Consider "Happiness Bill"

The bill will force everyone to look like this.
From The Telegraph.

Today The Telegraph reports that Brazil may soon pass a "Gross National Happiness"-type of happiness bill, possibly in time for Carnival. The bill is currently in the Senate, which reconvened this week after Dilma Rousseff--the first woman president in Brazil's history--was inaugurated on New Year's Day.

A non-government group called the "Happier Movement" was largely responsible for getting the bill this far. Mauro Motoryn, director of the Happier Movement, says "Happiness isn’t a game, people confuse it with something that is superfluous and it isn’t. We need quality health care, which we don’t have. We need quality education, which we don’t have."

Unfortunately, the news story doesn't go into detail about what's actually in the bill, but if it's similar to other Gross National Happiness bills, it probably contains provisions for conducting a national survey of the nation's wellbeing. Remember to click here to read news about other countries who are adopting Gross National Happiness laws, because there are so many that it's honestly difficult to keep a running tally!

Seattle's Happiness About to Be Measured, Too

From Queen Ann View.

Okay, this is getting repetitive. Now Seattle is getting in on the happiness measures, according to this story from Queen Ann View. The effort comes from a group called Sustainable Seattle in what they are calling the Seattle Area Happiness Initiative.

In an approach inspired by (what else?) the Gross National Happiness indicator of Bhutan, Sustainable Seattle is asking the community to take their online survey, which measures happiness based on the "nine domains of happiness". I haven't tried the survey yet, but if you do, be advised that it takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete, and can't be saved for later once you start. You're in it for the long haul with this survey, but at the end you'll be rewarded with a readout of your scores in each category, so you'll easily see how you might improve your life.

Members of Seattle's government apparently support the effort. Seattle Councilman Mike O'Brien says, "You get what you measure. For too long we’ve measured the wrong things—Gross Domestic Product doesn’t tell us whether we have a good quality of life or a sustainable society. This survey, which includes nine domains of well-being, not just income, is a good way to start measuring the important things we care about, so we can actually achieve them."

Again, click on my Gross National Happiness tag to read other news stories about groups/countries measuring happiness. Expect to see a lot of repetition. At this point it might make more sense to list countries NOT measuring happiness because it's getting hard to keep up!

Germany Apparently Wants to Copy Rest of World, Measure Happiness

A view from Munich. From Geographic Guide.

According to this story from The Swedish Wire, Germany may join fellow bandwagon members Britain, France, and Canada in measuring Gross National Happiness. Speaker of parliament Norbert Lammert led the happiness committee, which will give its recommendations two-and-a-half years from now. They are considering a method that would survey quality of life along with GDP.

As many of you probably know by now, Bhutan has been the trend setter when it comes to happiness measures. They've measured Gross National Happiness since 1972, an unorthodox choice for a developing country. In the past few months, we've seen a flurry of countries start to think about national happiness measures for some reason. Why are they starting now? I have no idea, but maybe the economic depression has something to do with it.

Take a look at my Gross National Happiness tag for the most recent happenings on this topic.

SPECIAL REPORT: Happy Movie Pre-Order!!

Buy buy BUY!!

Yes, I'm selling something, but hopefully that's okay because you'll like it. We at the Happy movie are selling a pre-release DVD for $19.99. Order now and get it in time for Christmas!

This is Oscar-nominated filmmaker Roko Belic's latest documentary feature. It is a journey across 14 countries on 5 continents featuring interviews with extraordinary everyday people, as well as positive psychology superstars Ed Diener, Richard Davidson, Sonja Lyubomirsky, the people and leaders of Bhutan, and many more. Also features appearances by Daniel Gilbert and the Dalai Lama.

So head over to our buy page for more info. You can get special deals on three- and ten-packs if you have a lot of Christmas shopping to do. You can also try our "Award Winner" pack, which includes Happy, the Oscar-nominated Genghis Blues, and the multi-award-winning Indestructible, an inspiring documentary about an ALS patient who travels the world one last time. If you like T-shirts, you can also get those in children's or adult sizes.

And that's not all! Roko Belic, the man himself, will personally sign all pre-order DVDs of Happy! We won't stop until his signin' hand falls off! He has worked very hard on this film for four years, and now it's ready for release.

I have seen the film many times (I even transcribed it word-for-word) and I can attest to both its emotional power and its educational value for people learning about happiness science. It never loses its ability to move, especially when seeing it with a crowd (like I did in San Francisco).

So give it a try. This limited edition pre-order will end December 31. After that, you'll have to wait until the official release.

Hey, France Is Also Measuring Happiness

The river kinda looks happy already. From cooltownstudios.

Because why not, right? According to this story from the Guardian, France will probably start measuring its national happiness as well, joining the ranks of England and Bhutan. Last year, Nicolas Sarkozy commissioned a happiness report from Nobel-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen. More recently Insee, the French national statistics office, included a new chapter in its annual Social Portrait of France. The chapter details how any future happiness studies should take place.

Interestingly, the report focuses more on unhappiness than happiness. Stéfan Lollivier, director of social studies at Insee, explains:

"You can't measure happiness, it's impossible, people don't have the same preferences for what makes them happy. But you can measure the fraction of people who are dissatisfied, who think they are unhappy, and the proportion of people who are missing out on happiness or feel excluded from it."

Current French statistics show that single parents are the most dissatisfied, and around one fifth of the French populace has gone through times of poverty--either emotional or financial.

Most researchers would disagree with Mr. Lollivier, by the way. Positive psychologists measure happiness all the time. Read just about any story on this blog for evidence! Still, this French method of surveying unhappiness should be just as valid, and could yield interesting results.

Britain to Start Measuring People's Happiness

I wonder if surveyors will be happy with the task of
surveying all these Brits. From The Guardian.

Happy Monday everyone! I didn't do anything special for my birthday...except surf for the first time a few days before! Although maybe I shouldn't describe what I did as "surfing." It was more like "falling off." Also, not being a California native, it strikes me as utterly bizarre that the climate here allows me to surf in the ocean in the middle of November.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Britain. According to this story from the Sydney Morning Herald, Britain will soon measure happiness, similar to what Bhutan does with their Gross National Happiness metric. Prime Minister David Cameron has wanted to measure the "general wellbeing" of his country for awhile, and now the Office of National Statistics will  actually carry out the policy.

On November 25, national statistician Jil Matheson will come up with new happiness questions to put on next year's national survey. In addition to happiness, the survey will also cover how close respondents are to achieving their life goals. This survey can lead to good things, because as I've reported in the past, Britain's happiness levels have dipped, and at other times the country has had strange opinions about the topic.

What do you think of this? Would you like to see happiness taken seriously in your country? Do you have any surfing tips? Any opinions would be appreciated!

Weekend Viewing: Nic Marks

Sorry I didn't update yesterday, in case you noticed. My birthday is tomorrow and I may have been derelict in my duties. Luckily Saturday is also a lazy day for me, except I can still do my job. I can just post a video and run! Love how I've set that up.

This weekend, take a gander at this TED Talk with statistician Nic Marks. He argues for a new measure of human progress that takes happiness and environmental impact into account. This sounds quite similar to Bhutan's measurement of Gross National Happiness, which I'm a huge fan of, but Nic prefers the Happy Planet Index. This index combines life expectancy, life satisfaction, and ecological footprint into one measure on a scale of 1 to 100. You can look at a world map showing each country's HPI score here.

So that's it for the week. I'll just be over here, continuing my slide into unproductivity!

Is Britain Losing Happiness?

How could this make anyone unhappy? From Stippy.

Yes, according to a new survey by the Legatum Institute. They are also dropping in wealth and prosperity. The survey covered around 90% of the world's population in 110 countries. Britain may be falling behind because of decreased trust in financial institutions, anxiety over jobs, and lagging healthcare and education systems. As usual with lists such as these, Scandanavian countries like Denmark and Norway came in on top, while the U.S. came in tenth and Britain came in 13th.

This is the Legatum Institute's fourth annual survey of prosperity and wellbeing. Their goal is to provide a "holistic understanding of Prosperity," which sounds similar to Bhutan's concept of Gross National Happiness, but with economic factors included.

Bhutan Wants the UN to Include Happiness as a Development Goal

The Prime Minister of Bhutan at the UN. From Kuensel.

Kuensel Online, Bhutan's daily news site, reports that Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley made a speech before the United Nations on Monday. The speech asked world leaders to put "happiness" on the list of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The UN created this list of goals in 2001:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality rate
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

The UN wants to meet these goals by 2015. As we speak, a review board is looking at how close we are, so the results should be in soon. Bhutan's Prime Minister says that happiness should be number nine on the list because it "stands as a separate value while representing as well the sum total outcome of the other eight."

Bhutan itself is an interesting country because it considers Gross National Happiness (GNH) to be more important than GDP, based on a policy enacted in 1972. As far as I know, it's still the only country with this policy. It's an interesting experiment, so I'll probably talk more about Bhutan in the future!