Community Portal April 2011

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This is the archive of the community portal from April 2011. To see up to date media coverage, blog posts etc, please see the Community Portal.

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In the spotlight - current

Nic Marks on The Happiness Manifesto


Nic Marks gives a great talk at TEDx Danubia 2011. Nic Marks is the found of the Centre for Well-being at Nef (the New Economics Foundation). In his presentation he talks about various organisations and governments who are committed to measuring quality of life. Watch out for his mention of Wikiprogress!


How to inspire and enable people to help build a happier society together



'Action for Happiness' is a new movement launched on the 12th of April by 3 great progress thinkers, Lord Layard, Geoff Mulgan and Anthony Seldon. Due to the overwhelming response, the website for Action for Happiness is currently down. See a selection of news items on the movement below and full coverage in the Action for Happiness - Media Review article. We'll post the link here as soon as the site is up! You can also stay up to day by following the for Happiness Twitter account


More and more politicians are adopting the infant discipline of happiness economics - but they may face painful questions

The world's first membership organisation dedicated to spreading happiness is being officially launched.

A new organization is dedicated to the principle that money can't buy happiness — but individual acts of kindness can.


The inaugural United States Peace Index

Today the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) will launch the first ever United States Peace Index (USPI) that will rank 50 states
according to their peacefulness. The index aims to identify the key drivers of peace by state and will analyse the economic benefits of peace. In a statement from the IEP, the USPI ‘finds that a reduction in violence and crime could equate to billions of dollars in saved revenue.’
As the world’s largest economy, America is the ideal candidate to kick-start the planned series of national peace indices by the IEP and highlight potential economic and social gains from increasing levels of peace.
The national peace indices will build on the existing 149 national perspectives in the Global Peace Index. The Global Peace Index (GPI), which was launched by the IEP in 2007, ranks 149 countries based on 23 indicators of peace. The United States currently ranks85th on the GPI, with neighbours Canada ranking 14th and Mexico 107th.

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine


Media

Progress in the News

Officials in Somerville have added the question, "How happy do you feel right now?" to the city's census forms, becoming the first in the U.S. to systematically track people's happiness.


Ireland is mired in financial calamity, and we’re not afraid to complain about it, so why does survey after survey prove us to be among the world’s happiest, most optimistic people?


Jesus didn't give a toss. Not for thrift, investment, whatever. One flick through Matthew will show what I mean: "Take no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."


Of all the goals of the education reform movement, none is more elusive than developing an objective method to assess teachers. Studies show that over time, test scores do not provide a consistent means of separating good from bad instructors


China's progress is inextricably linked to the rest of the world and will not pose a threat to anyone, emphasised Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his three-day official visit to Jakarta.

The UAE has been ranked among the top 20 countries in the world in a wellbeing survey conducted by Gallup.


Weaker economic growth does not necessarily imply that our welfare is increasing at a slower pace. The economists of the Economic Research Department say life is about more than just money. But how do you measure welfare?


Last week Catherine Rampell pointed to a recent Gallup survey indicating that most upper-income people still don't realise (or, in some cases, refuse to admit) they're upper-income.


Since its introduction in the first Human Development Report in 1990, the Human Development Index (HDI) has attracted great interest in policy and academic circles, as well as in the media and national audiences around the world.


How happy are you? How happy is the country? This very important question has gradually gained attention over the years, occupying not only psychologists and New Age gurus, but economists, political scientists, and government leaders.


A study on the well-being of children in Kazakhstan will be conducted by jointly by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Academy of Public Administration under the Kazakh President. The initiative was made public today at a workshop “The assessment of children’s well-being in Kazakhstan” at the Academy of Public Administration.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Gallup's 2010 global well-being survey, issued last week, offered polling data that sharply contravenes the favorable view of China's improving living standards. The data suggested only 12 percent of Chinese people thought of themselves as "thriving," 71 percent saw themselves "struggling" and 17 percent "suffering."


Sixty-three percent of Israelis consider themselves to be "thriving" versus only 14% of those in the Palestinian territories; Denmark tops list.


A survey of "global wellbeing" has found that despite our financial woes, Ireland has the 10th highest percentage of people who are "thriving" based on how they rate their lives and where they see themselves in five years.


Angus S. Deaton of Princeton University tells Forbes India about his latest study in which he connects happiness to income levels


Economists and other market watchers look to major market indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI) for guidance on the state of the economy and the future direction of the stock market.


While China's economy continues to grow at a blistering pace, its people don't seem to be feeling too good about their lives.


Despite the ferocity of the recession, Irish people rate themselves among the most fulfilled and optimistic in the world, according to the results of a global survey. The Gallup global wellbeing survey for 2010 ranked Ireland 10th in the world among those citizens who regard themselves as thriving.


Gallup survey shows 63% of Israelis satisfied with their lives, more than residents of United States, Britain. Denmark tops list with 72% happy campers, while only 14% of Palestinian Authority residents say they're content with situation


The number of workers filing for jobless benefits declined last week but remained elevated, while a broad gauge of the economy's strength rose, delivering mixed signals as economists seek to evaluate the strength of the recovery.


Danes, Swedes and Canadians believe they're "thriving" - while Americans are feeling somewhat mediocre. Haitians and citizens in the Middle East said they were "struggling."


With only 17% people describing themselves as "thriving", India has ranked 71 in a new study on overall well-being conducted in 124 countries.


Since times immemorial, the human race has sought health, happiness and wealth —not necessarily in that order. Wars have been fought and lives have been lost due to the overwhelming desire of possessing them. These three basic ingredients are thought to be essential for a meaningful life. Ironically, in our crazy race for securing 'happiness and health', we at times are actually moving away from it. Life has become so hectic and busy that it is taking its toll on our health and wellbeing.


Most of the focus of the policy discussion is the income of the poor and working class. As I have written previously, the American working and middle class is economically better off than their European counterpart. The poorest five percent have it better in Sweden compared to Swedish-Americans, whereas all other income groups earn more in the United States.


The latest reality check on global progress to make the world more inclusive presents mixed results. The Global Monitoring Report 2011 (GMR) on the Millennium Development Goals, prepared jointly by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, makes it clear that, despite some progress, key targets will remain elusive when the 2015 deadline is reached.


Gallop's global wellbeing survey for 2010 is out. There's been little progress over the past year, and most of the world is not "thriving"


David Cameron and his advisers want to make us feel better, but they don't know how.


Majorities in 19 out of 124 countries "thriving," mostly in Europe and the Americas


IMF and World Bank advocate 'performance-related' pay for medics to improve maternal and child mortality, but the greatest threat to MDGs remains the 'cycles of violence' in fragile states


South Cambridgeshire is the best place to live in rural Britain, according to a survey by the Halifax.


People living in rural areas in the south tend to have a higher quality of life than those in northern regions of Great Britain, research has suggested.


Its rural charms have already tempted famous residents including Spice Girl Mel C and Springwatch’s Kate Humble to move there.


One of the first concepts that students are taught in Econ 101 is the law of diminishing marginal returns: as you consume more of some good, each additional unit gives you less pleasure than the previous one.


Anger and surliness seem to be the norm in our land nowadays, making it extremely difficult to swing a cat without hitting a cranky person eagerly waiting to strike back with a bite-your-head-off attitude.


Despite all its encouraging homilies and self-help jargon, I don't want the new organization Action for Happiness. I want Action for Things to Be Basically OK


Group of 20 financial leaders Friday made some progress with their initiative to ward off future economic crises, but decided to delay resolving how best to manage surges in international investments that risk overheating emerging economies.


IED publication argues that government is right to consider wellbeing when making policy, and outlines six key objectives


The agreement struck by the Group of 20 on tools to assess imbalances represents “huge progress” toward the achievement of a more sustainable global growth, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Friday after a meeting of G-20 finance officials.


Winners of the first Apps for Development competition were just announced at an event at the World Bank offices in Washington DC. The competition was launched last year and challenged software developers around the world to use the Bank’s now freely available data to create apps that solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.


Public policy in Bhutan rejects 'materialistic' development paradigms in favour of a focus on spiritual wellbeing


Countries in the "turnaround" range may be particularly prone to instability


Money cannot buy you happiness — but green spaces, equality and job security can help, according to a debate at the University of Bolton.


The state government has been directed to submit an annual report on the human development index (HDI) in various areas across the state. The HDI is an indicator of the quality of life of citizens.


For years, Western journalists and commentators have depicted the continent of Africa as an economic basket case, a caldron of hunger, joblessness, corruption and despair where living standards have barely risen.


She'll be right. That seems to be the view of most Australians, says a report that compares life satisfaction across 40 nations.


More and more politicians are adopting the infant discipline of happiness economics - but they may face painful questions


Britons rank better than U.S. adults in health and healthcare access but they rate their lives less positively than U.S. adults, a survey indicates.


A study of the nation's happiness has identified 10 steps to achieve a life of contentment, warning that Britons have become miserable because they are selfish, unfit, and antisocial.


What makes you smile? That’s what The Press has been asking people in York as we joined in the national debate on happiness and wellbeing.

David Cameron has set great store on the nation's wellbeing – but a survey shows he has a lot of work to do


When you quantify happiness, you make it prescriptive, suggesting there is a right and wrong way of being happy


It's a quest that has taxed the likes of Billy Graham and the Dalai Lama. The answer's in local politics and narcotics legislation


Action for Happiness, a mass movement to improve people's wellbeing, claims there are 10 key steps to achieving contentment in life.


Anthony Seldon, headmaster of Wellington College, explains why he helped found Action for Happiness, a campaign to boost the world's well-being.


Members pledge to replace self-obsessed materialism with caring action groups at work, home and in the community


The Museums Association (MA) has responded to a consultation by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) into how national wellbeing should be measured.









Mexicans work longer days than anyone else in OECD countries, devoting 10 hours to paid and unpaid work, such as cleaning or cooking at home. Belgians work the least, at 7 hours, compared with an OECD average of 8 hours a day.


Mind has spoken out in favour of a new national and international campaign to improve people's happiness.


Half of the Bulgarians consider themselves poor, while 20% have lost their savings or jobs


Executives and scientists from the Gallup and Healthways organisations presented findings from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index® (WBI) which has collected information from approximately 3,000 adults in the United Kingdom over the past three months.


They are happy, and they know it, and they really want to show it. A new organisation dedicated to lifting the spirits of the UK has been launched with the goal of inspiring us to "don't worry, be happy".


World Development Report 2011 warns that chronic cycles of criminal and political violence remain the biggest threats


The World Bank is recommending a major difference in the way aid is spent.


Launched today, the 2011 World Development Report is on “Conflict, Security and Development.” In making a presentation on its relevance to Africa to my World Bank colleagues, I counted six messages that are new and different.


The World Bank has called for a major rethink in the way that aid is spent.


Some 1.5 billion people worldwide are living in poverty because of political and criminal violence, said World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Monday.


With over 1.5 billion people living in countries blighted by incessant or recurring violence, the World Bank's annual World Development Report (WDR), with this year's focus on how conflict derails development, was anxiously received Monday by scores of development agencies, governments and NGOs all over the world


These are people who are said to be living in countries affected by these violence, according to the latest World Bank reports just released in Washington, DC by the World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick.


A World Bank report has recommended a major shift in the way that international aid is administered.


The report's author, Sarah Cliff, says this is the greatest development challenge facing the worl


Source: World Development Report team calculations based on OECD A chart from the World Bank shows the volatility in aid to four countries from year to yea


The World Bank has asked African governments to urgently tackle youth unemployment and inequality among different population groups to avoid losing economic gains.


The report examines how conflict and violence affect economic development and the lessons to be learned from countries' successes and failures in overcoming those challenges.


Cell phone access jumps in low- and middle-income countries


When it comes to the "time economy," most of us are worse off than we used to be. Canadians, particularly women, are experiencing a time crunch. The trend has been getting worse over the past 15 years, says a 2010 report from the Canadian Index of Wellbeing.


Can you have it all: high growth, strong human development indicators and an egalitarian society?


American 'optimism expert' who inspired prime minister fears that he got it all wrong


Can money really buy happiness—or at least rent it?


Compared to nurses, police officers and binmen, statistics probably seem like a bit of a luxury. Certainly Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has suggested he thinks the data collection business is pretty much the definition of back-office, rather than front line.


Do you agree that your life has a sense of purpose? Would you say that, overall, you have a lot to be proud of? Do you wish you lived somewhere else? Coming out of the blue, these are tricky questions to answer.


The University of Waterloo, long known for innovation and as an international leader in health promotion, has been selected as the natural home of a comprehensive index that measures the wellbeing of Canadians.


Late Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, a couple of years before his death in 1976, once advised a visiting foreign guest how to read and understand propaganda in the Chinese media.


Since times immemorial, the human race has sought health, happiness and wealth —not necessarily in that order. Wars have been fought and lives have been lost due to the overwhelming desire of possessing them.


Soaring greenhouse gasses, increasing waste generation and energy use, declining stocks of large fish species, and shrinking water supplies in parts of the country - are offsetting gains like reduced air pollution emission levels, good water quality, and healthy forest bird populations, said a new Environment Report released today by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW).


The Gillard government inquiry into its soon to be unveiled sustainable population strategy has been urged to establish a sovereign fund to invest in the wellbeing of a stable population.


The cost of living has been rising fast in China, but increasingly the country’s middle classes are grumbling that even the cost of dying is now beyond them.


The expansive nature of the government's new mental health policy has been welcomed, but many in the sector say adequate funding is vital to its success, reports Ian A McMilla


Aujourd’hui, le seul indicateur de référence utilisé au niveau gouvernemental pour mesurer l’évolution de nos sociétés est le produit intérieur brut (PIB).


The new survey on social "well-being" will give economists -- and voters -- a new tool for judging their leaders.


This article I have written consist a whole lot of benefits which the digital sphere has seriously and strategically considered and implemented; it brings in so much of economical benefits – but moreover, it’s social, increasingly health & well being and environmental & sustainability benefits to Sri Lanka’s economy.


You can't demand it or make it magically appear. It can come when we least expect it and disappear just as quickly. But most everyone experiences happiness -- or wants to -- at some time in their lives.


New 2010 figures from Statistics Estonia show that Estonians are having to shell out more for unavoidable, basic expenses such as food and housing while expenditures in other areas of life are being squeezed out.


In an uncharted world of boundless data, information designers are our new navigators.


Like everyone else, government officials want to look good. That often leads them to enact policies that promote favorable movements in the indexes by which they are judged.


Many countries are taking the quest for happiness quite seriously. Several societies large and small are starting to come to terms with the fact that gross domestic product is an inadequate measure of development and prosperity, and that society should also deeply care about the well-being of citizens.


Every year, cities around the world are judged according to the quality of life, how safe they are and how green they are among other rankings in global surveys.


Cities are built for tomorrow. As Asia progresses and joins the ranks of advanced economies, green-related issues such as sustainability, liveability and smart cities have cropped up as this drawing by a child from India illustrates.


Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret.


A study casts new light on the world's most important bilateral relationship - United States vs. China.


French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a new government survey measuring public levels of "ennui," or boredom.


People who live and work in and around Manchester are being encouraged to join the National Well-Being debate and have their say at an event on April 4.


It may not be the hippest metro region in the nation, but the Washington area scores first in Gallup's Well-Being Index, in part because of the shockingly low amount of stress felt in the city most know for it's political division and shouting.


In the recently released 2010 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index Ohio ranked as 45th out of the 50 states in overall well-being. The only states ranked lower than Ohio on the list are Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia in descending order.


The study was officially launched yesterday. It is the first report of its kind in Australia and compares the welfare of Bendigo's children to the state-wide average.

Blogs on Progress

Quality of Life: India vs. China (3 Quarks Daily 29.04.2011)

The steadily rising rate of economic growth in India has recently been around 8 percent per year (it is expected to be 9 percent this year), and there is much speculation about whether and when India may catch up with and surpass China’s over 10 percent growth rate.


Two generation s ago, my grandparen ts were able to own a house, a decent car and send four children to college.


When reading the economy section of any news portal, we often run into monthly, quarterly and yearly figures on ‘economic growth’.


With lush green landscapes, top class education and ever improving health, most people know that life in Suffolk is pretty good.


According to the 2011 Global Monitoring Report (GMR), more than half the children who are not in school today, 36 million, are girls. World Bank staffers Mercy Tembon and Lucia Fort in their book, Girls Education in the 21st Century, note that girls are “doubly disadvantaged” over boys when attending school. For instance, UNICEF reports that girls drop out (or never attend) school because of poverty, distance from school, or for reasons as simple as lacking separate toilet facilities


Gallup's global wellbeing surveys in 2010 reveal that a median of 21% across 124 countries were "thriving" last year, based on how people rated their lives at the current time and their expectations for the next five years.


Coro, April 24th 2011 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The results of the Gallup Organisation’s most recent poll on wellbeing placed Venezuela in sixth place out of 124 countries. The poll, which was published on Thursday, is the result of a series of telephone and face-to-face surveys conducted between February and December 2010.


In Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding—and How We Can Improve the World Even More, Charles Kenny argues that Africans are seeing a much higher quality of life despite what their nations' gross domestic product measurements show.


Healthways (HWAY) and Gallup recently announced the results of the Gallup-Healthways Monthly U.S. Well-Being Report for March 2011. The component indices for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (“WBI”) were, on the whole, level with the sequentially prior month. In addition, the overarching Well-Being Index composite measure remained low at 66.3.


In a recent study conducted by Gallup on global well being in 2010 reveals that of the 124 countries surveyed, majority population in only 19 countries -- mostly in Europe and the Americas -- considered themselves to be 'thriving'.


Denmark is the most contented country in the world, with almost two-thirds of residents describing themselves as "thriving," according to a new Gallup study. The United States ranks as the 12th-happiest country, with 59 percent of residents saying they're thriving.


Do we really know what the poor need? This is the most crucial question for a development institution such as the Inter-American Development Bank: collect pieces of information that allow designing projects that tackle the needs of the poor. Identifying those needs that are the most urgent is harder than it seems.


In his Inquiry into the Nature And Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith pointed to the social-inclusion role of a linen shirt in 18th century Europ...


The IDB partners with the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Development to promote dialogue on critical issues and areas of emerging interest in early childhood development


As we look forward to what we seek to accomplish at the beginning of this new decade, isn't now a good time to advocate a different type of framework for living, a new prosperity, one that is simply more evolved in its vision and can lead to a greater sense of subjective well-being?


With the Royal Wedding weeks away, all eyes are trained on the UK.


"What does well-being mean to you?" was the questioned debated by individuals representing a variety of public organisations, research institutions and other groups from across the North East.


The nation that has most successfully pursued happiness, is the small Scandinavian country of Denmark. Using the CIA’s website for data, (yes, that CIA is our Central Intelligence Agency) Denmark’s unemployment rate is between


The AmericasBarometer survey has recently published their biannual report, The Political Culture of Democracy in El Salvador. Funded by USAID and other organizations, it focuses on a multitude of social and economic factors and their effect on citizen’s evaluation of democracy in El Salvador.


n the English-language leadership debate, we heard a lot of talk about the economy, but a deafening silence about the environment and where our energy policies are leading us.


Tuesday saw the launch of Lord Layard’s Action for Happiness movement. There are many things worth applauding in the initiative, but also some important pitfalls they should be careful to avoid.


Is there a science of happiness? A growing band of economists, politicians and academics thinks so – and is putting theory into practice by starting a "mass movement for a happier society."


BBC Radio 4’s Today programme had a debate yesterday morning (12th April 2011) about whether the UK government can and should concern itself with the happiness of its citizens.


An American psychologist whose work inspired David Cameron’s plan to measure national wellbeing has warned that the UK Prime Minister might be trying to measure the wrong thing.


The human cost of the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire has been all too clear, with almost daily reports of deaths and casualties. Against that background, it can seem callous to discuss the economic cost.


Back in the 1960s, pioneering gay activists found an obscure passage from a 1948 book written by prominent sex researcher Alfred Kinsey that read, “10 percent of the males are more or less exclusively homosexual . . . for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55.”

The current economic mess has many alleged causes, from greedy bankers and over-generous Chinese lenders, to financially illiterate home buyers and regulators asleep at the wheel.


The study, published in the latest issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, is based on a Gallup World Poll that reached about 1,000 people in each of 128 countries, obtaining a total of more than 130,000 responses.


The China Alternative is our series on other manufacturing destinations in Asia that are now starting to compete with China in terms of labor costs, infrastructure and operational capacity. In this issue we look at Bhutan.


Living to an unhappy old age


An annual Head-of-State sponsored Global Peace Convention is to be established locally to measure the progress on peace and development initiatives and advance new partnerships.


You can't encourage volunteering by cutting the professionals who the volunteers depend on.


“Earth hour” took place this past Saturday at 8:30 p.m., when individuals turned off their lights for one hour to support the mission “to stop the degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.”


Colorado is the fifth healthiest state in the nation, according to the 2010 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index Survey. That's in the top five in country, with only Hawaii, Wyoming, North Dakota and Arkansas ranking higher. In 2009 Colorado only ranked 9th in the nation.


She is married, self-employed, former tennis champion and has scored an ace in the happiness stakes.


My print column this week examines happiness, and how to measure it. The U.K. is among several countries to contemplate collecting happiness measures, a primary pursuit of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, which continues its project to construct a Gross National Happiness measure.


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