UAE releases world’s first happiness policy report

Governments only take notice when people say they want to be happier.” John F. Helliwell, official, global happiness council

DUBAI — The world’s first report on the types of policies governments should implement to create happiness has been launched in Dubai. The Global Happiness Policy Report 2018 was announced by the UAE’s Happiness Minister, Ohoud bint Khalfan Al Roumi, at the pre-event of the World Government Summit on Saturday.

The global happiness council is responsible for the report and independent experts worldwide contributed to it, including psychologists, educators and wellbeing counsellors.

The UAE’s happiness-related initiatives were highlighted several times in the report, including the country’s National Agenda of being the happiest country in the world, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority to ensure the well-being of students and the Smart Happiness Index by the Smart Dubai Office.

“This report shows what needs to be done by governments to create happiness. The World Happiness Report is really a place where we document who’s happy and the science behind it, but this report shows building a better world and acts as a guide,” John F. Helliwell, the synthesis report chair at the global happiness council, said at a panel session.

“The progress is there but very slow. There are a lot of people that say ‘oh, that’s very nice but I’ll go back to my office tomorrow and do my job as I usually do’ and that’s not good enough. Governments only take notice when people say they want to be happier.”

However, Helliwell said the UAE has set a “good example” of the initiatives that need to be taken in order to create happiness within society.

Jeffrey D Sachs, the director of the global happiness council, said that wealth does not necessarily mean happiness. He used his own home country, the US, as an example. “We have a crisis in the US of mental illness, people are rich but they’re not happy. Many governments want economic growth, they want the stocks to grow, then you can live in a built society and create chaos. I live in a society like that. They’re not thinking about happiness.”