A global view
The World Happiness Report 2023, published annually by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, uses Gallup data to evaluate the happiness of countries based on a number of variables — including social support, life expectancy, freedom, and corruption — to give an overall global ranking indexed to 10. While the report is interesting in and of itself — if only for the practically unrivaled dominance of the Nordic nations — it gives a major insight into the relationship between money and happiness at the country level.
At a country-level, a simple analysis reveals a diminishing relationship between money and happiness. In poorer countries, adding a few thousand dollars to GDP per capita has a profound effect on the well-being of its citizens, but once you get into the richer countries, the relationship is much flatter. Indeed, while places like Luxembourg and Singapore scored highly on GDP per capita, each averaging $116k and $106k respectively — some ~$40k more than the US figure — this didn't necessarily equate to a significantly greater degree of happiness.
Although it’s hard not to think of what that pay rise would do for your life, it is perhaps comforting to know that your parents, and several psychologists, were probably right: money may only make you happy up to a certain point.
Happy ending
Even though an extra comma in your bank account might put a smile on your face, what remains constantly valuable in life are its fundamentals. The Ipsos Global Happiness Survey found that, from 2011 to 2021, the most important factors for happiness were consistently: physicalhealth and well-being, livingconditions, and, of course, friends and family — something worth remembering over the holidays… no matter how badly that game of Monopoly goes.
