what is Happiness

             

Happiness, gladness or joy is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.^[1] A variety of biological,psychological, religious and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology, are employing thescientific method to research questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained.

The United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness to recognise the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals.

Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. There has been a transition over time from emphasis on the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness.

A widely discussed political value expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the universal right to "the pursuit of happiness."

Happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many different things to many people. Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, and where applicable, split them into their components. Related concepts are well-being, quality of life and flourishing. At least one author defines happiness as contentment. Some commentators focus on the difference between the hedonistic tradition of seeking pleasant and avoiding unpleasant experiences, and the eudaimonic tradition of living life in a full and deeply satisfying way.

The 2012 World Happiness Report stated that in subjective well-being measures, the primary distinction is between cognitive life evaluations and emotional reports. Happiness is used in both life evaluation, as in “How happy are you with your life as a whole?”, and in emotional reports, as in “How happy are you now?,” and people seem able to use happiness as appropriate in these verbal contexts. Using these measures, the World Happiness Report identifies the countries with the highest levels of happiness.

2013 ranking (2010-12 surveys)[edit]

Rank	Country	Happiness	Change in happiness from 2012–14
1	Switzerland	7.587	-0.233
2	Iceland	7.561	0.263
3	Denmark	7.527	0.303
4	Norway	7.522	0.054
5	Canada	7.427	0.171
6	Finland	7.406	0.032
7	Netherlands	7.389	-0.283
8	Sweden	7.378	0.247
9	New Zealand	7.364	N/A
10	Australia	7.350	0.040
11	Israel	7.301	0.293
12	Costa Rica	7.257	0.000
13	Austria	7.221	-0.210
14	United Arab Emirates	7.144	0.410
15	Panama	7.143	0.633
16	Mexico	7.088	0.535
17	United States	7.082	-0.283
18	Ireland	7.076	-0.068
19	Luxembourg	7.054	N/A
20	Venezuela	7.039	0.192
21	Belgium	6.967	-0.274
22	United Kingdom	6.883	-0.003
23	Oman	6.853	N/A
24	Brazil	6.849	0.371
25	France	6.764	-0.049
26	Germany	6.672	0.163
27	Qatar	6.666	N/A
28	Chile	6.587	0.708
29	Argentina	6.562	0.369
30	Singapore	6.546	-0.094
31	Trinidad and Tobago	6.519	0.687
32	Kuwait	6.515	0.440
33	India	6.480	0.692
34	Cyprus	6.466	0.228
35	Colombia	6.416	0.334
36	Thailand	6.371	0.527
37	Uruguay	6.355	0.615
38	Spain	6.322	-0.750
39	Czech Republic	6.290	-0.180
40	Suriname	6.269	N/A
41	South Korea	6.267	0.728
42	Taiwan	6.221	0.032
43	Japan	6.064	-0.303
44	Slovenia	6.060	0.249
45	Italy	6.021	-0.691
46	Slovakia	5.969	0.705
47	Guatemala	5.965	-0.148
48	Malta	5.964	N/A
49	Ecuador	5.865	0.855
50	Bolivia	5.857	0.357
51	Poland	5.822	0.085
52	El Salvador	5.809	0.313
53	Moldova	5.791	0.852
54	Paraguay	5.779	0.777
55	Peru	5.776	0.763
56	Malaysia	5.760	-0.377
57	Kazakhstan	5.671	0.074
58	Croatia	5.661	-0.160
59	Turkmenistan	5.628	N/A
60	Uzbekistan	5.623	0.390
61	Angola	5.589	1.438
62	Albania	5.550	0.915
63	Vietnam	5.533	0.173
64	Hong Kong	5.523	0.012
65	Nicaragua	5.507	0.800
66	Belarus	5.504	-0.133
67	Mauritius	5.477	N/A
68	Russia	5.464	0.346
69	North Cyprus	5.463	N/A
70	Greece	5.435	-0.891
71	Lithuania	5.426	-0.456
72	Estonia	5.426	0.074
73	Algeria	5.422	N/A
74	Jordan	5.414	-0.528
75	Jamaica	5.374	-0.833
76	Indonesia	5.348	0.329
77	Turkey	5.344	0.171
78	Libya	5.340	N/A
79	Bahrain	5.312	N/A
80	Montenegro	5.299	0.103
81	Saudi Arabia	5.292	-0.214
82	Nigeria	5.248	0.448
83	Kosovo	5.222	0.118
84	Honduras	5.142	-0.103
85	Portugal	5.101	-0.305

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report