What Kenya can learn from the World Happiness Report

On Tuesday March 20, 2018 the sixth World Happiness Report will be released. According to last year’s report, Kenya was ranked 112 out of the 155 countries surveyed.  In relation to other African countries Kenya was ranked 12th.

Algeria led the rest of Africa in happiness, followed by Mauritius. Conflict-torn Libya was ahead of Morocco. Somalia, ranked Africa’s fifth happiest country ahead of Nigeria and South Africa, ranked 7th. Tunisia was eighth, Egypt ninth, while Sierra Leone was tenth, followed by Cameroon and then Kenya.

HAPPINESS REPORT

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The report ranks 155 countries by their happiness levels, and this year the report will be released by the United Nations to celebrate the International Day of Happiness 2018.

The report reflects a new worldwide demand for more attention to happiness and absence of misery as criteria for government policy. It reviews the state of happiness in the world today and shows how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness.

Since it was published in April 2012, the report has gained global recognition. The world has come a long way over the last six years as now governments, organisations and civil society increasingly use happiness indicators to inform their policy-making decisions.

In 2017 Norway took first place, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland. The rankings are based on six factors — per capita gross domestic product, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, social support and absence of corruption in government or business.

EXPERIENCE

Happiness is many things – it is not just about money, although it's part of it. The report stated that gross domestic product per capita is one of the key measurements. Others include generosity, a healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices and freedom from corruption, the report's authors argued.

The report gives special attention to happiness in the workplace. 

Happiness is typically defined by how people experience and evaluate their lives as a whole. With this in mind, it is clear that the workplace needs to contribute towards our wellbeing rather than detract from it. This, sadly, is too often not the case. 

The report reveals that happiness differs considerably across employment status, job type and industry sectors. Generally people in well paid roles are happier, but money is only one predictive measure of happiness. Work-life balance, job variety and the level of autonomy are other significant factors.

VARIATIONS

The report also covers variations in levels of happiness. It looks at economic factors (such as income and employment), social factors (such as education and family life), and health (mental and physical). 

Credit goes to the tiny country of Bhutan for shining a light on happiness. Its prime minister first proposed a World Happiness Day to the United Nations in 2011 and launched an international focus on happiness.

In 2016 the United Arab Emirates appointed their first Minister of State for Happiness, Ohood Al Roumi.  Her mandate is “to have happiness and positivity as a lifestyle and the higher purpose of government work in the UAE.” 

This got me thinking – Kenya should have a Happiness Day. We need to improve our ranking in Africa and on the world of the Happiness Report. We really just need a bit of encouragement at times as we are fundamentally happy people.

We all deserve to be happy and we can all help others around us be happier too. I choose to believe this and I think you can too.

The writer is a counselling psychologist at Amani Counselling and Training Institute.