Are you happy, India ?

My apologies. At the outset I must admit that this is a very foolish question on my part to ask you. It's like the "let them eat cake" comment of Marie Antoinette, queen - consort of Louis XVI of France upon being informed that the citizens of France had no bread to eat. With GDP per capita less than USD 1,500, overall literacy rate less than 75% and average life expectancy just a little over 65 years, it is quite possible that Indians are not quite a happy bunch of people. This was quite evident when India ranked a low 111 out of 156 countries with a score of 4.772 out of a maximum possible score of 10 in the recently published World Happiness Report 2013 by Sustainable Solutions Development Network under the aegis of United Nations.

The leaders and laggards ...

It is not quite surprising since the parameters used for report are GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support, freedom to make choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption and India's position on majority of the factors is not quite enviable. In fact the average score for the countries of South Asia is a poor 4.782 just marginally better than the average score of the Sub-Saharan countries (4.626) and a world average of 5.158. Not surprisingly, the top 5 countries in the ranking is from Western Europe lead by Denmark (7.693) followed by Norway (7.655), Switzerland (7.650), Netherlands (7.512) and Sweden (7.480) respectively and the bottom 5 countries are from the sub-Saharan region - Rwanda (3.715), Burundi (3.706), Central African Republic 3.623), Benin (3.528) and bottom rank going to Togo (2.936).  

The great divide ...

As you can see from the figures, the gap between the top and bottom is quite large. The average score for the top 5 countries is over 2.5 times the average score of the bottom countries. Apart from the inequality of happiness between the top countries and the bottom countries of the world, the inequality of happiness is quite perceptible within the various sub-regions as well and the highest inequality is seen in regions like MENA (Middle East North Africa), Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and the lowest in Western Europe and NANZ (North America and Australia & New Zealand)

Required increased social sector spending ...

India's score has in fact reduced by 0.382 points since the last study made 5 years ago. Though GDP per capita is one of the parameters, it doesn't seem to be the most important parameter. This is because since though GDP per capita has increased in almost every region with proportionate increase the largest in south Asia which is mainly caused by substantial increase in India, India's score has in fact reduced substantially. The correlation between mental illness and unhappiness seems to be very high as is evident from the study. In a poor country like India, there will be much smaller flow backs to the public finances, since disability benefits are much lower or non-existent.

Mental illness is key ...

The report also states that mental illness is a huge problem in every society and a major cause of misery in the world. Unfortunately, most people who need treatment never get it. This can be reversed, and to do it will require countries to spend a higher proportion of their health budgets on mental health and to use these resources more effectively. Better treatment for mental health would improve happiness directly; and improving happiness in other ways would reduce the frequency of mental illness. If we want a happier world, we need a completely new deal on mental health.

The curious case of India ...

In case of India, apart from a strong governmental support it also requires a radical change in our mindset to make ourselves happy. Agreed that in terms of GDP per capita, life expectancy and social support, India ranks very poorly much below 100 among 150 odd countries but we should take pride in us that we are the world's largest democracy with strong fundamental rights even though we are economically not yet free. Also, nothing stops us from being slightly more generous and fight corruption in the system in order to achieve a corruption free environment, thereby increasing our happiness.

Taking cue from a neighbor ...

More and more countries are starting to measure their progress with reference to the happiness of their citizens. Bhutan has gone the furthest and is the best known example where the government has adopted the objective of maximizing its Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index. Countries like India has a lot to learn from its smallest neighbor in terms of area as to how to perfect the balance between maintaining ones cultural values and traditions while increasing their economy.