Map shows India 125th most happy place to live

London, July 28 (UNI) India is the 125th most happy country according to the first ever 'world map of happiness' produced by a British psychologist.

The map puts Denmark as the happiest country in the world while Burundy is the least happy in a list of 178 countries.

Adrian White, an analytic social psychologist at the Leicester University's School of Psychology, analysed data published by UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, the WHO, the Veenhoven Database, the Latinbarometer, the Afrobarometer, and the UNHDR, to create a global projection of subjective well-being- the first world map of happiness.

Talking about Asian countries Mr White said, ''We were surprised to see countries in Asia scoring so low, with China 82nd, Japan 90th and India 125th. These are countries that are thought as having a strong sense of collective identity which other researchers have associated with well-being.

''It is also notable that many of the largest countries in terms of population do quite badly. With China 82nd, India 125th and Russia 167th, it is interesting to note that larger populations are not associated with happy countries.'' Participants in the various studies were asked questions related to happiness and satisfaction with life. The meta-analysis is based on the findings of over 100 different studies around the world, which questioned 80,000 people worldwide. For this study data has also been analysed in relation to health, wealth and access to education.

Mr White said, ''The concept of happiness, or satisfaction with life, is currently a major area of research in Economics and Psychology, most closely associated with new developments in positive psychology. It has also become a feature in the current political discourse in the UK.'' ''There is an increasing political interest in using measures of happiness as a national indicator in conjunction with measures of wealth. A recent BBC survey found that 81 per cent of the population think the government should focus on making us happier rather than wealthier. The UK is at 41st position in the list,'' Mr White said.

''Further analysis showed that a nation's level of happiness was most closely associated with health levels (correlation of .62), followed by wealth (.52), and then provision of education (.51),'' Mr White added.

''The three predictor variables of health, wealth and education were also very closely associated with each other, illustrating the interdependence of these factors,'' he said.

Mr White said, ''There is a belief that capitalism leads to unhappy people. However, when people are asked if they are happy with their lives, people in countries with good healthcare, a higher GDP per captia, and access to education were much more likely to report being happy.'' The 20 happiest nations in the World are- Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Iceland, The Bahamas, Finland, Sweden, Bhutan, Brunei, Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg, Costa Rica, Malta, The Netherlands, Antigua and Barbuda, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, The Seychelles.

The three least happy countries were- Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Burundi.

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