Happiness, also called joy or enjoyment, is one of the seven universal human emotions. This means it is one of the emotions that is believed to be recognised and felt by everyone regardless of culture, and also characterised by a very particular facial expression. As with all the universal emotions, it occurs across a gradient of intensity, from peace through to ecstasy.

The quest for happiness has become a very modern phenomenon, with many books written about it. However, is it really as hard as all that to be happy? Leo Tolstoy suggested not, arguing that it was simply a human condition.

This page explains more about what we mean by happiness, and why the pursuit of happiness may actually be counterproductive.

Defining Happiness

Happiness is a positive emotion that is closely entangled with well-being (see box).

Almost everything about happiness seems positive.

It feels good, and is generally considered the most desirable of the seven universal emotions. However, given that the other six are anger, disgust, sadness, fear, contempt, and surprise, this is probably not saying very much.

Enjoyment or happiness seems to be triggered by a wide range of events or experiences, including helping others, witnessing people helping others, seeing something funny, personal achievements, and feeling connected to others. In fact, almost anything that makes us feel good can be described as triggering happiness in some form, whether mild or much more intense. This has been the source of much interest to writers and philosophers over many years—and not always kindly.

Happiness is also widely recognisable by a particular facial expression: the smile.

A genuine smile like the one shown is hard to resist. In fact, most of us will instinctively smile back in response—even just to a picture. How can you identify a genuine smile, as opposed to a fake one? It is the wrinkling around the eyes that gives it away. We simply do not do this in a fake smile.

Like all the universal emotions, happiness has a function.

Researchers believe that smiling and looking happy shows others that we are not a threat. They also suggest that it has a personal function: feeling happy is motivating, so we are driven to seek the sensation again by doing things that trigger it. This may have an important social function, because many of the things that make us happy are socially related.

There is also, however, a widespread belief, in Western societies at least, that being happy is essential for well-being, and for a rich, rewarding life. In other words, happiness = longevity = a 'good life'. This is worth exploring further, because the situation may not be quite that clear-cut.

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The State of Happiness

If happiness is a good thing, it follows that more happiness must be better.

This view has driven both researchers and governments to try to quantify the general level of happiness in the world, and country by country. The result is the Global Happiness Report, published each year since 2012. It is based on answers to 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?"

What, then, does the Global Happiness Report tell us? Here are some headline facts and figures about the level of happiness in the world.

• The happiest countries in the world are the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark), which all score an average of 7 or 8 out of 10. They are the only countries in the world with an average score of 7 or above.

• Happiness is generally higher in more developed countries. However, South American countries tend to have higher levels of happiness than might be expected. This seems to be related to the size of households and the social situation there. It suggests that family bonds are important to happiness.

• However, most rich countries have become less happy since 2012—although the decrease has been even more marked in some poorer countries.

• Six variables generally explain the differences in happiness: social support, GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and perceptions of corruption.

• This year's report suggests that kindness is important to happiness, with both acts of kindness and expected kindness increasing personal happiness.

• People who are kind, and people who receive kindness, are both happier for the interaction. In other words, you can actually increase your own happiness by helping other people, as well as being helped in your turn.

• Social connections are very important for happiness, particularly among younger people.

To explore more about what makes us happy, you may like to visit the Global Happiness Report's website, particularly its data in map form at https://data.worldhappiness.report/map

Getting Philosophical: The Pursuit of Happiness

Is the pursuit of happiness worthwhile? The Global Happiness Report suggests that it is certainly a universal goal—but is that really true?

It is possible that what the Global Happiness Report really tells us is that how you define happiness matters.

If we look back at the question used for the report, the word 'happiness' is not actually used or defined. The assumption is simply that happiness is defined by our general feelings about whether our lives are as good as possible.

However, this is a highly subjective judgement.

If you ask people whether they are happy, that may not be the criteria that they use to decide. A recent international study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science even suggested that happiness might not be a universal ambition. A Japanese man quoted in the study, when asked if he was happy, said:

"Umm... I never thought about such a thing in my whole life."

The authors argued that the pursuit of happiness is what they called a WEIRD ambition: common only to Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic societies. However, the Global Happiness Report clearly shows that many countries other than these have a high level of what the report calls happiness, and what we might call 'subjective well-being' or 'general contentedness with where you are in life'.

It is just that many people and societies do not think of this as being happy—and they certainly don't necessarily concentrate on the pursuit of happiness.

In fact, it is even possible that the pursuit of happiness itself can make people unhappy.

One study found, for example, that actively trying to pursue happiness led people to think that time was scarce—and that made them unhappy. People also have very different ideas about what might make them happy, and some of those ideas may not be helpful. For example, the pursuit of hedonic happiness, by buying things, or pursuing pleasure, is unlikely to be helpful in the longer term (and our page on Living Well, Living Ethically discusses why this might be the case). As we know, social connections and helping others may be more important to long-term happiness.

Interestingly, there is also clear evidence that many people actually fear feeling happy. This is particularly true in some non-Western societies, where there is a pervading view that happiness is automatically followed by sadness, and therefore it is best to avoid either. As a sidenote, this may provide some insight into the wording of the question used for the Global Happiness Report, and why it does not mention the word happiness!

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A Final Thought

Does happiness therefore matter?

Does it lead us to a richer, more vibrant life? And possibly most crucially, does it make us live longer?

The jury is still out on that one. For some people, especially in societies that value happiness, greater happiness does seem to be associated with better physical health, at least in some ways. However, what seems to be more important than happiness per se is the feeling that life has a meaning or purpose. In one study, the factor most associated with life expectancy was not life satisfaction—although this was important—but having a purpose in life.

It seems, therefore, that rather than pursue happiness, perhaps we should pursue helping others. This will serve the dual purpose of giving us a purpose and helping both us and others to become happier.

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