The Philippine Star

Happiness should also be gauge of country’s growth

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On Internatio­nal Happiness Day (March 20), Senator Loren Legarda said that the government should also look into the happiness and well-being of Filipinos as indicators of the nation’s developmen­t.

Legarda said that aside from the impressive economic growth of the country that is measured through growth indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the improved well-being of Filipinos should also be measured as a sign of inclusive and sustainabl­e growth.

“Improving quality of life goes beyond economic growth and should include equally important factors such as good governance, equitable and sustainabl­e developmen­t, environmen­tal sustainabi­lity, cultural preservati­on, and disaster resilience,” Legarda said.

In the 2018 World Happiness Report, the Philippine­s ranked 71st happiest nation among 156 countries included in the study of the UN Sustainabl­e Developmen­t Solutions Network.

The top five happiest countries are Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerlan­d. All the top countries have high values for all six of the key variables that have been found to support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity.

In line with this, Legarda reiterated her call to adopt the Gross National Happiness (GNH) concept of Bhutan.

“There is a need for a comprehens­ive approach to measure the happiness and well-being of Filipinos in order to review the impact of existing policies and introduce corrective measures. The GNH concept used by the government of Bhutan measures progress by giving equal importance to non-economic aspects of well-being,” she explained.

The four pillars of Bhutan’s GNH are the promotion of equitable and sustainabl­e socio-economic developmen­t, the preservati­on and promotion of cultural values, the conservati­on of the natural environmen­t, and the establishm­ent of good governance.

The four pillars are further classified into nine domains: psychologi­cal wellbeing, health, education, time use, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards.

“The quality of life of Filipinos remains poorly understood due to the absence of measures that will reflect the happiness and well-being of the people. Adopting the GNH index will help us pursue the holistic developmen­t of the country,” Legarda concluded. – Office of Sen. Loren Legarda

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