Happiness, it would seem, has a price, according to a new study that reveals the different prices of happiness in 173 countries. As it turns out, this price isn’t the same depending on where in the world you live.
If you live in Iran, you’d have to earn US$239,700 (RM1.12 million) a year, whereas in Portugal you could be happy on US$61,237.
There’s an old saying: “Money can’t buy happiness.” Of course, when someone invokes this, they are often met by the retort: “But it does help.”
Except that the financial resources required to achieve this will differ depending on whether you live in the United Kingdom (US$85,440) or Sierra Leone (US$8,658).
In France, for example, you’d have to earn US$79,602 a year to be happy, whereas in Australia this well-being would come at a higher cost, in the region of US$121,191.
Why are these figures so different?
The analysis used data from an American scientific study carried out by Purdue University and released in 2018, the aim of which was to pinpoint the salary needed to be happy, depending on where you live in the world.
The study determined that it takes an average of US$170,000 a year to be happy, and that beyond this sum, the researchers concluded that the level of happiness did not increase.
To fill out its analysis, this new report from S Money also incorporated data from the World Gallup Poll, which indicates the extent to which an individual considers their life to be satisfying for each country.
In addition, the analysis adjusted each of the happiness prices for the cost of living.
That’s why Iran is the country where it costs the most in the world to be happy. Yemen comes in second place, with a satisfying life coming in at a price of US$172,140 a year.
And happiness is not most financially accessible in western nations: in addition to Australia in third place, Norway also stands out (5th), with an estimated cost of happiness at US$117,724.
Likewise, in Switzerland (6th) happiness doesn’t come cheap at an eye-watering US$115,745.
Meanwhile, in the country ranked as happiest in the world for the last six years according to the World Happiness Report, happiness isn’t accessible to everyone: you need an annual salary of US$94,177 in Finland.
Countries including Suriname (US$10,255) and Madagascar (US$11,355) are the places in the world where happiness is, by all accounts, the most accessible.