Major finding

In 2008 World Map of happiness ranked Denmark as the happiest nation (Conger, 2011). The same year World Database of happiness ranked it second. The findings of the WVS show that initially as per capita income increases the survival and well-being measure increases at a rapid pace, and after attaining a certain level of per capita income it increases little and eventually stagnates. The relationship is, however mediated, by several factors such as extent of TV viewing (Bruni and Stanca, 2005). It is notable that the developing countries such as India which have a rather lower per capita income are not so poor in happiness. Does this mean that in India happiness is not defined primarily in economic terms, or does this mean that the economically developed countries have followed a path of development that has made people unhappy by giving rise to new forms of conflicts, stressors, and frustrations? If you argue that the economically developed countries have followed a path of development that has made people unhappy should India follow the same path of development and become unhappy? The gains of economic development seem to be neutralized by loss of happiness on other fronts.