Day Eight How Happy?
Taken all together, how would you say things were these days? Would you say that you are:
- Very happy
- Pretty happy
- Not too happy
This question has been asked regularly since 1972 as part the General Social Survey. According to the 2016 survey, 30% of Americans say they're very happy, 55% are pretty happy, and 14% are not too happy. These results are remarkably unchanged over the 44 years that the survey has been conducted, even as US average inflation‐adjusted, per‐capita income has more than doubled.
In other words, we've witnessed a remarkable improvement in our standard of living – more income, improved health care, better cars, larger homes, vastly superior technology – and yet our reported level of happiness hasn't budged. That raises a crucial question: Does money buy happiness – and, if not, why not?
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