Happiness Index; Current Status, Global Ranking and its Importance in the Government’s Agenda ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’

Abstract

This review is done to understand status and global ranking of Nepal on Global Happiness index as well as to identify the importance of happiness index in the government's agenda 'Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali'. For this numbers of journal articles and reports were consulted as secondary source of data and conclusion were drawn and summarized. No primary data were collected.Happiness index of Nepal, at present, is 4.913 and ranked at 100 th position among the 156 countries of the world. The happiness index status has risen from data (4.156)2013 to (4.962)2017 but it decreased in 2018(4.88) and in 2019(4.913) it is slightly increased but not more than that of 2017. Similarly, ranking of Nepal also increased from 2013 to 2017 but it decreased in 2018 and in 2019 it moved by one and reached to 100 th . As long as people want more wealth, they will tend to be somewhat dissatisfied if they don't get in self-growth, leisure time and intimate relationships. Happiness index could be the basic idea of measurement for the government's agenda 'Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali'. The mental state of well-being defined by pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy is Happiness. The Global Happiness report states the Global data on national happiness and evidence from the emerging science of happiness shows that the quality of people's lives can be assessed by a variety of subjective well-being measures, collectively through as happiness [1]. The happiness movement represents a new paradigm where social, economic, and environmental systems are structured to encourage human well-being in a sustainable environment and to measure happiness; happiness index was identified [2]. The World Happiness Report is being releasing every year since 2012. Bhutanese Gross National Happiness Index was the main origin of definition of the Happiness Index. Bhutan started prioritizing happiness over other factors such as wealth, comfort and economic growth since 1972 [3]. Indexation of happiness is based on multiple measurable factors which have kept track of this index till now. Happiness Index, was coined in the 2012 by WorldHappiness Report. The Happiness Index is defined as the weighted rate of respondents reporting "Very happy" or "Quite happy" less the weighted rate of respondents reporting "Not very happy" or "Not at all happy," plus 100. The index thus ranges from 0 to 200 [4]. The report presented the available global data on national happiness and reviewed related evidence from the emerging science of happiness, showing that the quality of people's lives can be assessed by a variety of subjective well-being measures, collectively Happiness Index; Current Status, Global Ranking and its Importance in the Government's Agenda 'Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali'