It appears that money can buy you happiness.
New research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found that levels of ‘life satisfaction’ fell sharply between 2007 and 2012 in countries facing the toughest economic times.
In countries like Greece and Spain, which were caught up in the eurozone sovereign debt crisis during this time, life satisfaction fell most sharply.
However, in the UK levels of happiness rose by 1% between 2007 and 2012.
This ‘life satisfaction’ was measured across 11 different categories, which included personal security and work-life balance.
This placed the UK in the top 20% of happiest countries in the 34 member OECD, alongside Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and New Zealand.
Commenting on the findings, the OECD said:
“The global economic crisis has had a profound effect on people’s well-being, reaching far beyond the loss of jobs and income, and affecting citizens’ satisfaction with their lives and trust in their governments,
“This report is a wake-up call to us all.
“It is a reminder that the central purpose of economic policies is to improve people’s lives. We need to rethink how to place people’s needs at the heart of policy-making.”
Perhaps money, or at least economic prosperity, does have the potential to make us more satisfied with our lives, happy even.
