World Happiness Report 2024

The World Happiness Report for 2024 focused on the happiness of people during different life stages and of those in different generations. Overall, Ireland ranks 17th of the 143 countries polled. They note that "in the West, the received wisdom was that the young are the happiest and that happiness thereafter declines until middle age, followed by substantial recovery......but happiness research shows a more nuanced picture, and one that is changing over time". 

Respondents to the survey were asked the question “Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?". Other factors such as GDP per capita in purchasing power parity, healthy life expectancy at birth, social supports (having someone to count on in times of trouble), the freedom to make life choices, generosity (donations to charities), the perception of corruption, positive affect (the average of three positive affect measures - laughing/smiling, enjoyment and doing interesting things), negative affect (the average of three negative affect measures - worry, sadness and anger) and confidence in institutions were also used to rank countries. 

Happiness rankings for the young (under 30) 2021-2023

Ireland comes in at 21st place.

Ranking of Happiness for the Old (age 60 and above) 2021-2023

Ireland comes in 16th place. 

Measures of success

The success or failure of an economy is traditionally measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which calculates the value of all goods and services produced by a country or Gross National Product (GNP) which measure how much of that value remains in the country. However, neither of these measures take into account the impact on or the damage that may be caused to people or place in the production of those goods and services. They may also give a false impression of the strength or weakness of an economy. Because of the distorting effect large corporations can have on Ireland’s finances, a new measure was developed, GNI* which seeks to provide a more accurate measurement of what is really happening at the core of the economy. In Ireland also, we have a new measure introduced in Budget 2023, GGB*. Acknowledging the State’s reliance on corporation tax, this metric will be used to monitor the public finances while excluding any ‘excess’ receipts.

But what does any of this mean for the health and happiness of individuals? How do we measure the success or failure of a society? The response to that question that has emerged across the world over the last few decades is to measure the impacts of policy against the wellbeing of citizens. But what exactly does that mean and how is it best done?

So how are we doing? In a country that still is unable to provide secure affordable housing, timely access to healthcare, support children with extra educational needs and has over 559,000 people living in poverty, we have a lot of work to do. Ultimately, as a nation, we want to be well, safe and fulfilled and we want to ensure that so are the generations to come.

Social Justice Ireland's Annual Social Policy Conference in 2022 explored how we can deliver on wellbeing initiatives and make suggestions for new initiatives or propose improvements to existing methods. More Here.