Introduction
After the release of this year's World Happiness Report, it became more apparent that indicators of the extent of human happiness and well-being, which is the criterion for the success or failure of countries, have declined.
The report ranks countries according to their achievements in several indicators, such as income, health, and freedom to make basic decisions in life affairs, in addition to other indicators.
Upon reviewing the report, we conclude that it is based on field surveys conducted in 143 countries. The report adopts a simple method to identify people’s conditions, which is by asking them directly about how happy they are with their lives and then rating them themselves. Naturally, this entails questions about the institutions, factors, and conditions that create a satisfactory livelihood.
In this year's ranking, the richest member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development topped the first forty places, including the State of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan came at the bottom of the global ranking, and right before it came to Lebanon (As a Lebanese I strongly expected this matter).
Physical and mental health, human relations between a person and his surroundings; income and work; personal values; social support; personal freedoms; lack of corruption; And the effectiveness of the government, are the factors that explain the differences between happiness and decline in satisfaction leading to states of misery. It can be concluded that the general public has increasingly come to believe that their overall well-being and satisfaction in living is the ultimate goal. They also judge the development of their situation from the perspective of the level of well-being they enjoy, or lack, and the extent of its fair distribution among members of one generation and across generations.
One of the elements that explain happiness is the extent to which fairness in opportunities is achieved and given that this indicator depends on perceptions of the variables it measures, prevailing impressions also have an impact. The changes also explain the successive shocks that befell the middle class in several countries, which are measured by another indicator, which is misery.
For example, the American economic index was designed to measure the economic pressures due to the rise in unemployment accompanied by the increase in the cost of living. The index is calculated by summing the unemployment rate with the annual inflation rate. This index was widely used in the 1970s during the period of worsening stagflation. The economy is considered to be in good condition if the unemployment rate is close to the natural unemployment rate, let it be 3 percent, and the target inflation rate is 2 percent, for example, then the ideal number for the misery index is 5 percent, and any increase in it is an increase in misery in society. However, this indicator has its shortcomings because it does not include other economic variables such as growth and the impact of expectations. Therefore, modifications were made to it.
Of course, it is best to use this indicator with a group of other economic, social, and human indicators that explain developments in the situation in the country, as well as the satisfaction of the general public.
Conclusion
In the end, the goal is to have a world in which people are happy with their lives and in which the individual feels satisfied and self-fulfilling. The pursuit of happiness is one of people's rights after affirming the right to life and freedom.
Therefore, the main question remains: Is caring for people’s lives and happiness the evidence of good government?
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