India’s Position in World Happiness Index

Why in news?

United Nations has released the World Happiness Index.

What is World happiness report about?

• World Happiness index released by UN is basically an appraisal of the general well-being of a nation rather than an indicator of personal happiness.
• The index doesn’t measure joy and cheerfulness of the people of a nation, besides it is a measure of prosperity such as income and healthy life expectancy.
• Index is based on six key factors found to support wellbeing: Income, Healthy life expectancy, Social support, Freedom, trust, and generosity.
• Out these six the important variable is trust, which is measured by the absence of corruption in business and government.
• The issue of migration was placed at the heart of the 2018 report, which also ranked 117 countries according to happiness of their immigrants.

What are the findings of the recent report?

• Finland, Norway and Denmark secured the first three positions, the remaining Scandinavian countries (Sweden and Iceland) found themselves in the top ten rankings.
• The Scandinavian countries are the perennial toppers in the Global Happiness Index.
• The United States and the United Kingdom were in 18th and 19th place respectively.
• The study found that the 10 happiest countries in the overall rankings also scored highest on immigrant happiness, suggesting that migrants' well-being depends primarily on the quality of life in their adopted home

What are the report findings about India?

• India is ranked terribly low at 133 out of 156 countries alongside some Sub-Saharan African countries, dropping 11 spots from 2017.
• Most of the emerging economies Mexico (24), Brazil (28), Argentina (29), Malaysia (35), Russia (59), and China (86) are placed far ahead of India.
• All the South Asian countries, even Pakistan and Nepal ranked better compared to India.

What are the reasons for India’s awful performance?

• Despite being one of the fastest growing economies, India remains a non-egalitarian country with growing levels of economic inequality.
• An Oxfam survey in 2017 has revealed that India’s richest 1 per cent has cornered almost 73 per cent of the total wealth created in the country.
• India’s public health spending is well below the global average (just 1.4 per cent of GDP) leaving the deprived millions to pitiable public healthcare facilities.
• Even the well-off Indian professional class, who can afford expensive private healthcare, are not guaranteed a long, healthy and happy life.
• India has failed in building a trustworthy social support system, helping people when they are in real trouble.
• India’s political system and business establishments are unable to manage big cash flows in a sustainable, responsible and transparent way.
• Indian response towards the Rohingya crisis, despite being a country that welcomed Tibetans and Sri Lankans, illustrates that generosity and altruism are giving way to pseudo-nationalism and self-obsession.

What India must learn from Scandinavian countries?

• Norwegians discovered a greater fortune than fishes in the North Sea, massive amounts of crude oil and natural gas.
• The political consensus that emerged in Norway for sharing the suddenly-discovered oil wealth for the entire citizenry than falling into the hands of a few business giants, leading to the creation of a welfare state model par excellence.
• When petroleum profits exceeded all expectations, the government established an ‘oil fund’ in 1990, which is now the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund entitling every Norwegian a millionaire on paper.
• Life for Scandinavians is to be taken at a slow pace leaving their worries and anxieties into the hands of a dependable, trustworthy government.
• In addition to its joyful locals, Finland is also home to the happiest immigrants due to the nation’s altruistic policies.

Source: Business Line, First Post