Happiness, a sorcery.

Happiness is the generally defined state of contentment, delight and euphoria

Although a very widely used term, happiness is a very vague metric of measuring whether an individual feels contented with his/her life or not. I may have money and still not be very happy; I maybe broke tomorrow and still be the happiest person in the world.

Dark humour 101.

Sacha Boren's The Dictator (2012) is an example of the stark contrast that lies herein. Even prior to meeting Zoey, Aladeen had all the material possessions in the world, but he still wasn't happy. Except, as soon as he financially level down to Zoey's reality and then eventually accept her as she was, he was truly happy.

I could've gone for one with Zoey (Anna Faris); but I couldn't. 

Since happiness cannot be quantified, lack of metrics disables its inclusion in the 4 types of utility: time, form, place, possession.

Although, scientific measurements can find some way to quantify even a subjective concept such as happiness;  except the degree of subjectivity in case of happiness is just off the charts. 24*7 electricity for an Indian definitely offers a great degree of comfort to, however, that's not the case with a someone in Europe or US as it's just a fundamental, trivial commodity for them.

When even the "X-Team" leader's confused.

So, the context across international borders continues to change, thereby making quantification of a subjective concept such as this very complicated and difficult to be all-inclusive

Nepalese PM Oli should really think about it.

While a narrower domain, Behavioral Economics tries to evaluate happiness through indices such as HDI and per capita GDP, all of these are derivatives too and not fundamentally meant to evaluate individual happiness.

Nationalist sentiments kept aside; the concenpt of HDI was given by Mahbub ul Haq, a Pakistani economist.

Despite of the psychology foundation of Behavioral Economics, it also has a rather arrested approach toward happiness. 

This is probably because of the fundamental method of evaluation it promotes. 

The evaluation of happiness is done by determining a country's employment, enrollment, life expectancy, etc. numbers (and not just be limited to GDP), however, given how government agency numbers are subject to institutional failures such as malpractices, lack of expertise, and sampling issues; 

the inaccuracy and inherent loopholes invariably defeat the purpose.

Loopholes 101.

Although, at some point , even developed nations no longer need to worry about GDP, Bhutan is the only country to have used "happiness" as their primary criteria for their residents welfare, Gross National Happiness (GNH)

Bhutan is reported to be the one and only country in the world to have completely dismissed GDP as a metric for measuring their nation's welfare. Instead, they've what's called "Gross National Happiness". 

heads up, it's the King. 

Enacted in 2008, even the local governments acknowledge that the foundation of this metric is based on that of philosophy and not necessarily eco-politic. 

Keeping aside the details related to conducting sampling accurately, gross national happiness is measured as:

GNH= 1- HA

Where, HA measures the part of the population that is either not happy or hasn't been able to achieve self sufficiency based on the 33 indicators consolidated under 9 domains which measure governance, socio-economic development, cultural preservation, and even, environmental conservation.

From a development stand point, happiness is important as it is the true reflection of the actual living state of any individual, given different socio-eco-political factors that vary by countries.

Over the years, especially as the human resources gap has started to reduce between the developed and under developing countries, policy makers around the world are focusing on a more inclusive approach towards evaluating and therefore, working upon the general welfare and individual growth of the masses.

From skill oriented educational reforms to recognition of arts and cultural domains as sources of income (and therefore their institutionalization), these policy reforms aim to keep up with the times according to the needs and endowments of the modern humankind. 

India

UAE

South Korea

While these 3 were the ones that stand out for me, it wouldn't be a hypothetical thing to believe that government agencies and even NGOs around the world are coming up and are currently working (as we speak).

And unlike any other policy/government approach, the best part about this is the "context" element; and therefore, if you and I are talking about say 100 countries? then that's 100 versions of happiness;

Pointing towards the same idea, happiness. 
(:

beautiful, right?

These perspective changes invariably help in not only increasing the general well being of the people, but also improve their happiness quotient.

Although, we're yet to invent a metric for measuring the said quotient.

and still data scientists haven't been able to find anything. :P

Also, is it just me, or data "scientists" are really just data analysts too proud since they're working at places such as Silicon Valley? 
 
:P

With the above kept in perspective,

Happiness? 

It's

indeed 

a

sorcery.

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.

.

.

.

.

And that's exactly where we both get on the same page, I become a buzz killer and say

With that kept in perspective

This is Mayul

Signing off.

 

P.s Stay hydrated

(:

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References: 

nothing much, just google images, really. :P

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