British People Really Like Coffee and Parks

From Coffee Ratings.

Yes, according to this story from The Telegraph, Britain has just released some preliminary results of the Gross National Happiness survey, and the results show that coffee and walks in the park are among the responses to how British people define happiness. This information comes as a result of focus groups trying to define happiness before the British government begins the main survey phase of its happiness plan.

When asked how they define happiness, the people in the focus groups showed a diversity of responses, from big ideas to little details. Some of the responses included:

• “Having access to open, green space within walking distance of my home.”
• “Access to low-cost facilities that enrich life - e.g. libraries, parks, swimming pools.”
• “Opportunity to laugh, ability to trust, opportunities to recharge my batteries and restore my mental health.”

Some people responded negatively, saying that what really matters is contentment, freedom, health, or money.

In case you don't know what all this is about, last year British Prime Minister David Cameron began a campaign to put wellbeing statistics alongside Britain's economic indicators. You can join an online version of the happiness focus groups by going to the Office for National Statistics website here.

Britain Starts Their Happiness Survey

Prime Minister David Cameron and an anonymous dog.
From Green Consultancy.

Yes, as reported back in November, Britain plans to focus on the wellbeing of its citizens. Well, now The Telegraph reports that the nation's first official happiness survey is afoot. This first batch will cover 200,000 people over the age of 16, asking them to rate themselves on the following questions on a scale of 0 to 10:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
• Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

Future questions will probably focus on more specific areas, such as the state of their marriage, friendships, and health. Paul Allin, head of the wellbeing project, expects the large sample size to rule out most dishonest answers, saying, "We essentially trust people to give us the answers they give us and we will work what they say."

The whole initiative comes from Prime Minister David Cameron's belief that governments play a role in helping their citizens "feel better." It is run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and has a current budget of £2 million a year. Previous surveys show that Britain's life satisfaction has failed to keep up with its GDP over the last 40 years.

Germany Apparently Wants to Copy Rest of World, Measure Happiness

A view from Munich. From Geographic Guide.

According to this story from The Swedish Wire, Germany may join fellow bandwagon members Britain, France, and Canada in measuring Gross National Happiness. Speaker of parliament Norbert Lammert led the happiness committee, which will give its recommendations two-and-a-half years from now. They are considering a method that would survey quality of life along with GDP.

As many of you probably know by now, Bhutan has been the trend setter when it comes to happiness measures. They've measured Gross National Happiness since 1972, an unorthodox choice for a developing country. In the past few months, we've seen a flurry of countries start to think about national happiness measures for some reason. Why are they starting now? I have no idea, but maybe the economic depression has something to do with it.

Take a look at my Gross National Happiness tag for the most recent happenings on this topic.

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