Instead of GNP, let’s measure Gross National Happiness

Although basically selfish, the world economic system teaches us that happiness means personal gain accumulating more and more with power, prestige and popularity. All major religions teach something totally different. The essential religious teaching is that we will have lasting inner happiness when we speak, live and act in a manner that makes others happy. The Buddha Dhamma especially goes deeper to say, “May all beings be happy”. That means not only making other people but also all creatures happy and acting in a manner that does not harm or pollute anything that is part of Mother Nature. We need to live together in harmony maintaining a delicate balance in the ecological system. Unfortunately, because of the major contradictions between what a selfish world system teaches us and what liberative spirituality teaches us, most people are confused and often tempted to go for what the world system offers because it appears to be more attractive like the forbidden fruit.   

Deep, liberative reflections such as these need to come to mind as we mark the United Nations International Day of Happiness on Monday, March 20. Since 2013, the UN has celebrated this day of Happiness as a way of recognising the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world. This of course is a practical way of saying we need to be transformed from selfishness, self-centredness, greed, the tendency to grab or brag and related vices to be other-centred, working not for personal gain or glory but for the common good of all and helping others without expecting anything in return. It is based on the golden principle that we need to do unto others what we wish they would do for us.   

Speaking at the High Level Meeting on “Happiness and Well-Being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm” convened during the 66th session of the General Assembly, the then Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the world needed a new economic paradigm that recognized the parity among the three pillars of sustainable development. “Social, economic and environmental well-being are indivisible. Together they define gross global happiness,” Mr. Ban said.   

The meeting was convened on the initiative of Bhutan, a small South Asian country that has recognized the supremacy of national happiness over national income since the early 1970s and famously adopted the goal of Gross National Happiness over the Gross National Product.   
The UN General Assembly in a resolution proclaimed March 20 as the International Day of Happiness recognizing the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public 
policy objectives.   

According to the government, Sri Lanka became happier in 2015 as mentioned in the World Happiness Report released on March 17 last year. The Fourth World Happiness Report provides a fuller accounting of the distribution of happiness among people within each country and region.The 2015 update ranks Sri Lanka at 117th position with 4,415 points, 15 notches up from the 132nd position held previously. The report evaluated 156 countries on a number of factors and assigned a score on a scale of zero to 10 with 10 representing the best possible life and 0 the worst. It is based on the Gallup World Poll data collected from people in more than 150 countries averaged over the years 2013 - 2015.   

The World Happiness Report gave a special role to the measurement and consequences of inequality in the distribution of well-being among countries and regions. The 2015 Report ranked Denmark at the top of the list, followed closely by Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden. Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi were at the bottom of happiness, according to the report. In the South Asian region Pakistan ranked at 92nd, India at 118th, Nepal at 107th and Bangladesh at 110th. CNN says Bhutan ranked No.1 in 
happiness equality.   

So what is the deep message for us? If we wish to have lasting happiness we need to work and act in a manner that makes others happy in our homes and neighbourhoods, places of worship and workplaces.