In Search Of Happiness: Why India’s Dismal Ranking Must Spur Introspection

Are Indians a happy people? The answer is in the negative if you go by the World Happiness Report, 2024. India is ranked 126 out of 143 countries that find mention in the unedifying company of Asian neighbours Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. China at 60, Nepal at 93, Pakistan at 108 score much higher. Finland continues to be at the top, and the Scandinavian countries follow closely. How does it matter? Happiness is relative, isn’t it? Someone might ask. And Pakistan and Nepal are doing better…huh!

Well, keep the scoffing aside. Happiness matters, not necessarily in comparison to other countries or other people though. Bhutan has a National Happiness Index to measure the collective happiness and well-being of its population. It focuses on Gross Domestic Happiness instead of Gross Domestic Product as its developmental philosophy and driver of government actions. The purpose is to make development a holistic exercise not only economy-centric.

What makes the Finnish the happiest people in the world? The report makes it look logical. Before we dismiss it as speculative, let’s realise that it is a rigorous statistical exercise based on several parameters. Since highly respectable organisations such as the Oxford University, United Nations and Gallup, the multinational analytics and advisory company, are involved in the rankings we must give it some credibility.

The best ranked countries have a few things in common: work-life balance, strong social support system, freedom, trust in government and fellow citizens, low income inequality and closeness to nature. Sounds basic, right. Yes, but not many countries score on these parameters equally well. Unhappy countries are unhappy in their own way. Let’s bring India in here. Indians, particularly those in jobs in bustling IT, banking, infrastructure and financial sectors, and the private sector in general, have poor work-life balance. The country ranks 48 in the Work-Life Balance Index out of 100 countries ranked. According to ILO data, India is among the top 15 countries with the longest workweeks. Life, of course, suffers because of the long stay and pressure at the office.

Of course, it makes no sense to people like NR Narayana Murthy, the Infosys co-founder, who believes the talk of a balance in employees’ lives is nonsense. If there were a happiness index within India for categories of people, the owners of organisations would score high, not so their employees.

Money, they say, doesn’t buy happiness. But it pretty much takes care of everything else, including everyday expenses, requirements for health and education of family members and minor indulgences – in general, overall well-being. These, no doubt, contribute to happiness. According to an Oxfam report, income inequality in India is among the worst in the world, with 10 per cent of the population controlling 77 per cent of the country’s wealth. A World Inequality Lab report says income inequality in India is starker compared to the US, Brazil and South Africa. The truth is money that would beget happiness for ordinary people has moved into the pockets of the already rich. For those not already in the know, India is creating billionaires faster than any other country. It had 185 at the last count. It also has the lowest paid employees.

The role of freedom, trust in the government and fellow citizens and exposure to nature as contributors to the feeling of happiness needs no overemphasising. Does India provide enough of those? Have we even started thinking along those lines?

In 2024, it didn’t. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for 2025.

(By arrangements with Perspective Bytes)