“You can’t buy happiness with money,” they said.
Well, is it, really?
Because according to a new survey, happiness can actually be measured in financial terms.
Though surprisingly, it appears that Singaporeans don’t actually need that much money to be satiated in the happiness department.
Who Says Happiness Can’t be Bought? Average Price of Happiness for S’poreans Starts at S$5150
I’m all ready to buy your happiness, and it’ll reportedly cost me around S$5,150 per month.
Or at least, that’s what the aforementioned survey states.
According to MSN, The Price of Happiness Index stipulates that a Singaporean’s happiness would cost around S$61,810.87 (US$46,078) a year, or around S$5,150 in monthly terms.
It’s regarded as a price within the moderate range in Asia and Oceania regions.
Meanwhile, Australia commands the highest cost around the world at a whopping S$181,525 (US$135,321) a year, and it’s not even the first on the list. Instead, the ‘accolade’ goes to Bermuda, which requires S$193,077 (US$143,933) per year.
As for the bronze title, it would go to Israel, which commands S$175,000 (US$130,457) a year.
Switzerland and New Zealand serve to round up the rest of the top five countries with the highest price of happiness, while Norway, Denmark, Japan, Iceland and the United States form the latter half of the top ten.
As for the other end of the spectrum, we have Suriname ranking first with just S$9155 per year, and Argentina and Angola taking second and third with S$11,820 and S$12,013 respectively.
Kyrgyzstan and Iran round off the rest of the top five, with Zambia, Sierra Leone, Ethopia, Turkey and Nicaragua forming the latter half of the top ten list.
Survey Estimates
Conjured by Expensivity, the survey utilised estimates from Purdue University’s paper “Happiness, income satiation and turning points around the world” to project satiation points for over 160 countries.
It then “adjusted dollar figures using the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) conversion factor from the World Bank and the currency exchange rate from TheGlobalEconomy in order to convert the figures from the regional to the country level”.
In addition, it “used cost of living data from Numbeo to adjust national level estimates of satiation points to the city level”.
“National estimates were adjusted using Numbeo’s Cost of Living Index,” Expensivity wrote on their website. “Wherein a 1-point difference in index score between two geographies is equivalent to a 1% difference in the cost of living.”
Despite the financial attachments, however, Expensivity made sure to include a disclaimer, professing that oftentimes, the best things in life are actually free.
“Disclaimer: the best things in life are free – there’s nothing like love, exercise, and creativity to conjure happiness on a budget!” they wrote.
And we concur. Though some may rake in less than S$5,150 a month, they can be just as, if not more, happy as those who earn more than S$5,150.
After all, happiness is an innate feeling, and such things are often not defined by a “one size fits all” notion.
Featured Image: boonchoke / Shutterstock.com
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