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To measure the influence of various factors on people’s self reported happiness, the National Bureau of Economic Research surveyed nearly 88,000 people in 46 countries over 17 years. Here’s some of the stuff that measure happiness:
• Health — People in good health are happier than those who are not.
• Employment — Joblessness brings a person’s satisfaction level down by 0.61 point on a 10 point happiness scale, and also lowers his or her self assessed health level by 1 point on a 5 point scale.
• Relationships — From happiest to unhappiest: married people, individuals living as married, surviving partners whose spouses died, divorced people, and separated people. The happiness gap between being “married” and “separated” is about 0.75 point out of 10, or more than being unemployed.
• Age — People 35 to 44 are the unhappiest. The 18 to 24 and 55 to 64 age groups report equally high levels of happiness, and the 65 plus crowd is the happiest of all.
• Social Interaction — Helping at Meals on Wheels is certainly more noble than starting a touch football league, but either option can give your happiness a little boost about 0.05 point on the 10 point scale.
• Clear Conscience — A little more than half the survey respondents said that cheating on taxes is never justifiable; these tax patriots also systematically reported being more satisfied with their lives.
• Money — Income affects happiness very little. For example, jumping up just one income bracket say, from level 4 to level 5, out of 10, provides a 0.1 point increase on the 10 point happiness scale, while a move from bracket 9 to 10 brings only a 0.01 point boost.