How happy is your country?

Money doesn t buy happiness—or does it? In both India and China people have become richer in the past decade, but global data reveal that greater wealth does not necessarily lead to greater happiness Economic growth does not guarantee rising happiness. Read more here: https://econ.st/2HIlxLT Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: https://econ.st/2xvTKdy The Beatles sang that money can t buy you love,but might it make you happier? A new study compared wealth and well-being around the world - each circle represents a country sized approximately by its population. The red circle show countries where happiness has moved in the opposite direction to GDP. The blue circle show countries where happiness and GDP have moved in the same direction. They go from richer to poorer - what about happiness? On a scale from zero to ten where would you place your life satisfaction right now? That question was asked of thousands of people around the world, and surprisingly the rich in the country the happier it is. That makes Europeans the most gleeful, Africans the most miserable - but there s a snag. Overall in about a third of countries happiness has moved in the opposite direction two income. Countries don t always get happier as they get richer. In America people are less happy despite a growing economy and in the UAE happiness has risen despite falling wealth. Take the world s two most populous places. Incomes in both India and China have about doubled in 10 years but levels of happiness have diverged. For more from Economist Films visit: http://films.economist.com/ Check out The Economist’s full video catalogue: http://econ.st/20IehQk Like The Economist on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist/ Follow The Economist on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theeconomist Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeconomist/ Follow us on Medium: https://medium.com/@the_economist