There is no real measure for happiness

It was all over the news very recently that a Gallup poll has shown the Philippines to rank third among the happiest countries in the world in 2017. Only Fiji at first and Colombia at second were happier. However, in the 2017 World Happiness Report released earlier by the United Nations own Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the Philippines ranked only 72nd.

Why is there a gaping discrepancy in the rankings when the two organizations that came up with their separate lists -Gallup Poll and the United Nations- are known for their professionalism and credibility? Happiness being universal, surely it does not take a lot to make people happy, even those of an entire country. So how come the Philippines is up in one survey and down in another?

If happiness can swing widely from one point to the other, of what use then is coming up with any survey at all? What a mess of the emotions it makes to make it to the top in one survey, only to hit near rock bottom in another. Come to think of it, can happiness be truly measured by a survey that asks respondents only a few questions?

If an individual, or an entire nation for that matter, is truly happy, does it really need a survey to tell it that it is? For example, in the Gallup poll that the Philippines placed third happiest, were Filipinos happy to know they placed third, or were they dismayed to know they were not first and top of the heap. Perhaps the fact that most Filipinos ignored the news that was all over the place is the best indication of what the surveys may have missed.

And what the surveys missed is this: You cannot put a finger on happiness. A person who is happy will be happy regardless of what survey question is put to him. Conversely, a person who is sad will remain sad even if survey takers leave him alone. In other words, it is not up to surveys to truly measure happiness because happiness is an emotion and therefore beyond the ambit of math or statistics.

A person who is happy just the way he is does not care what life gives or takes other than what he already has that makes him happy. The fact alone that two surveys, taken by two respected organizations, can diverge greatly in the results proves this point. Perhaps these surveys, despite their labels, serve a purpose far removed from what they attempt to measure. If they keep diverging like this, maybe it is time to stop taking these surveys altogether. They only make people unhappy.