How do you think we should measure happiness?

Happiness is not something that is tangible so it more difficult to measure than something like Gross National Production. Some countries like Bhutan have made strides into measuring happiness. They measure happiness by four pillars : economic self-reliance, a pristine environment, the preservation and promotion of Bhutan’s culture, and good governance in the form of a democracy. It is possible that happiness could come from another place rather than stability. Bhutan suggests that if your economy, environment, government and culture are not in danger then your country is a happier nation. All of those things could be okay but what about the quality of life for the people of Bhutan. How does one make sure that each individual is a happy and stable person in society? The thing is your government might be smooth like butter but that does not include the happiness of the people. There needs to be a way to measure that besides the rate of suicides in a country. The only way to do that is to observe the people of a nation and decide whether or not they seem happy.

Happiness is not the same thing as being content and I think the four pillars of Bhutan ensure that everyone is content with their surroundings but it doesn’t insure that everyone is happy with their lives. So their needs to be another step with the four pillars. I believe they are a good step to having a happy nation but it isn’t everything. To gain perspective on how happy your nation is the only way you can measure that is by observation. There is no survey that can measure that because people can lie when it comes to surveys.