Happiness In the UK

Today the Government of Great Britain issued its happiness data.  You can check it out here. 

 the happiness wheel 

What does it say?  And how will it be used? Well, one major finding is that people are happier in a more healthy economy  Another is that in a down economy, people seem to be making more friends and that your relationships with your friends and family may have more impact on your health than diet and exercise. 

And how will it be used? In the words of Prime Minister Cameroon: 

“To those who say this sounds like a distraction from the serious business of government, I say finding out what will improve lives and acting on it is the serious business of government.

"We'll continue to measure gross domestic product. But it is high time we admitted that, taken on its own, GDP is an incomplete way of measuring a country's progress.” 

In other words: happiness matters.

Posted by Laura Musikanski, ED of HI