Does Money Buy You Happiness?

As I continue on with the series on Happiness, I give you a question that’s an easy one to answer.

Does money buy you happiness? We all know the answer to that: no.

Money and happiness really do not go hand in hand. There is even scientific proof of that.

The World Database of Happiness presents one of the most interesting examinations into whether or not money buys happiness. This database is an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life.

The scores are based on responses to a question about satisfaction with life and perceptions of personal well-being, the answers to which were rated on a numerical scale ranging from dissatisfied to satisfied. Rating scales ranged from 0 to 10.

As you can see from the following list, when you place each country’s GDP per capita (in current U.S. dollars), there is not very much correlation between how much money people make and how happy they feel. For example, Guatemalans have the same happiness score as Canadians, although their income is only one-eighth as much. What does tend to reliably correlate with happiness is the quality of relationships with family and friends and a personal sense of belonging to one’s community.

Ranking Country Score National GDP Per Capita
1 Denmark 8.2 $37,400
2 Colombia 8.1 $6,700
3 Switzerland 8.1 $41,100
4 Austria 8.0 $38,400
5 Iceland 7.8 $38,800
6 Australia 7.7 $36,300
7 Finland 7.7 $35,300
8 Sweden 7.7 $36,500
9 Canada 7.6 $38,400
10 Guatemala 7.6 $4,700
11 Ireland 7.6 $43,100
12 Luxembourg 7.6 $80,500
13 Mexico 7.6 $12,800
14 Norway 7.6 $53,000
15 Netherlands 7.5 $38,500
16 Malta 7.5 $22,900
17 United States 7.4 $45,800
18 Belgium 7.3 $35,300
19 El Salvador 7.2 $5,800
20 New Zealand 7.2 $26,400
21 Germany 7.2 $34,200
22 United Kingdom 7.1 $35,100
23 Honduras 7.1 $4,100
24 Kuwait 7.0 $39,300
25 Saudi Arabia 7.0 $23,200
26 Cyprus 6.9 $27,400
27 Italy 6.9 $30,400
28 Spain 6.9 $30,100
29 Argentina 6.8 $13,300
30 Brazil 6.8 $9,700
31 Dominican Republic 6.8 $7,000
32 Singapore 6.8 $49,700
33 Venezuela 6.8 $12,200
34 Chile 6.7 $13,900
35 Israel 6.7 $25,800
36 Slovenia 6.7 $27,200
37 Uruguay 6.7 $11,600
38 Indonesia 6.6 $3,700
39 France 6.5 $33,200
40 Czech Republic 6.4 $24,200
41 Greece 6.4 $29,200
42 Nigeria 6.4 $2,000
43 Philippines 6.4 $3,400
44 China 6.3 $5,300
45 India 6.2 $2,700
46 Japan 6.2 $33,600
47 Taiwan 6.2 $30,100
48 Uzbekistan 6.2 $2,300
49 Kyrgyzstan 6.1 $2,000
50 Vietnam 6.1 $2,600
51 Iran 6.0 $10,600
52 Peru 6.0 $7,800
53 Portugal 6.0 $21,700
54 Croatia 5.9 $15,500
55 Poland 5.9 $16,300
56 Bolivia 5.8 $4,000
57 Korea, South 5.8 $24,800
58 Bangladesh 5.7 $1,300
59 Senegal 5.7 $1,700
60 Hungary 5.6 $19,000
61 Morocco 5.6 $4,100
62 Montenegro 5.5 $3,800
63 Slovakia 5.5 $20,300
64 South Africa 5.5 $9,800
65 Lebanon 5.3 $11,300
66 Algeria 5.2 $6,500
67 Jordan 5.2 $4,900
68 Kenya 5.2 $1,700
69 Turkey 5.2 $12,900
70 Bosnia/Herzegovina 5.1 $7,000
71 Estonia 5.1 $21,100
72 Serbia 5.1 $10,400
73 Uganda 5.1 $900
74 Romania 5.0 $11,400
75 Azerbaijan 4.9 $7,700
76 Macedonia 4.9 $8,500
77 Mali 4.9 $1,000
78 Egypt 4.8 $5,500
79 Ghana 4.8 $1,400
80 Iraq 4.7 $3,600
81 Latvia 4.7 $17,400
82 Lithuania 4.6 $17,700
83 Albania 4.4 $6,300
84 Angola 4.4 $5,600
85 Russia 4.4 $14,700
86 Pakistan 4.3 $2,600
87 Bulgaria 4.2 $11,300
88 Georgia 4.1 $4,700
89 Belarus 4.0 $10,900
90 Armenia 3.7 $4,900
91 Ukraine 3.6 $6,900
92 Moldova 3.5 $2,900
93 Zimbabwe 3.3 $200
94 Tanzania 3.2 $1,300

So now, having looked over the table above, consider this:

In surveys such as this one, the impoverished people of Calcutta, India, living in crude shacks and with little access to clean water, register about even with Americans on the happiness scale — and well ahead of the Chinese, South Koreans, and Japanese. Meanwhile, relatively poor Guatemalans and Columbians, appear to be among the happiest people on the globe.

Underlying these thought-provoking results is the simple fact that more is not necessarily better when it comes to enjoying life and feeling satisfied. More may be more, but it is never enough. We’re caught up in the myth that by achieving and going up the ladder and having more stuff we’ll feel full inside. Yet it isn’t so.

As I said in yesterday’s article on the Art of Happiness, it’s not about the material things you can show the world, but about how you feel about the work you do, the relationships you have, and the love you share.

That’s what really matters.

Check out the video at the top of the page. It’s Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, from 1966, performing their song Richard Cory. The song, adapted from a poem by E.A. Robinson, tells the story of a man who had everything – riches, power, grace and style – yet something was lacking in his life, as the shocking end of the song tells us.

That thing Richard Cory was missing was Happiness. He was stuck in a High Density Lifestyle, and found his life lacking and empty.

There’s nothing wrong with having money. It’s just that it doesn’t buy happiness.

Happiness has to come from somewhere else – it has to come from within. And when it does, that’s when you’re living a Low Density Lifestyle.