Economic growth does not guarantee rising happiness

An old paradox lives on

Philosophers from Aristotle to the Beatles have argued that money does not buy happiness. But it seem to help. Since 2005 Gallup, a pollster^[각주:1], has asked a representative sample of adults from^[각주:2] countries across the world to rate their life satisfaction on a scale from zero to ten. The headline result is clear: the richer the country, on average, the higher the level of self-reported happiness. The simple correlation suggests that doubling GDP per person lifts life satisfaction by about 0.7 points. 

Yet the prediction that as a country gets richer its mood will improve has a dubious record. In 1974 Richard Easterlin, an economist, discovered that average life satisfaction in America had stagnated between^[각주:3] 1946 and 1970 even as GDP per person had grown by 65% over the same period. He went on to find a similar disconnect in other places, too. Although income is correlated with happiness when^[각주:4] looking across countries - and although economic downturns are^[각주:5] reliable sources of temporary misery - long-term GDP growth does not seem to be enough to turn the average frown upside-down^[각주:6]. 

The "Easterlin paradox has been hotly disputed since^[각주:7], with some economists claiming to find a link between growth and rising happiness by using better quality data. On March 20th the latest Gallup data were presented in the World Happiness Report, an annual UN-backed study. The new data provide some ammunition for both sides of the debate but, on the whole, suggest that the paradox is alive and well.

There are important examples of national income and happiness rising and falling together. The most significant - in terms of population - is China, where GDP per person has doubled over a decade, while average happiness has risen by 0.43 points. Among rich countries Germany enjoys higher incomes and greater cheer^[각주:8] than ten years ago. Venezuela, once the fifth-happiest country in the world, has become miserable as its economy has collapsed. Looking across countries, growth is correlated with rising happiness. 

Yet that correlation is very weak. Of the 125 countries for which good data exist, 43 have seen GDP per person and happiness move in opposite directions. Like China, India is a populous developing economy that^[각주:9] is growing quickly. But happiness is down by about 1.2 points in the past decade. America, the subject of Easterlin's initial study, has again seen happiness fall as the economy has grown. In total the world's population looks roughly equally divided between places where happiness and incomes have moved in the same direction over the past ten years, and places where they have diverged^[각주:10]. 

1. pollster ; [명사] 여론 조사 요원 ;; [NOUN] A pollster is a person or organization who asks large numbers of people questions to find out their opinions on particular subjects. [본문으로]
2. representative sample ; [명사] (수학) 대표 표본(代表標本) [본문으로]
3. stagnate ; 1. [자동사] 침체되다, 부진해지다 ;; [VERB] If something such as a business or society stagnates, it stops changing or progressing. [본문으로]
4. correlate ; [타동사] …을 서로 관련시키다, …사이의 상관 관계를 입증하다[with, to]. ;; [VERB] If one thing correlates with another, there is a close similarity or connection between them, often because one thing causes the other. You can also say that two things correlate. ;; 미국식 [ˈkɔːr-; ˈkɑːr-] 영국식 [ˈkɒrəleɪt] [본문으로]
5. downturn ; (경기 따위의) 하강(下降), 하락(decline) ; 침체, 불(不)활발(slackening). ;; [NOUN] If there is a downturn in the economy or in a company or industry, it becomes worse or less successful than it had been. [본문으로]
6. turn the upside down ; [Verb] (colloquial) To become happy after being sad. [본문으로]
7. dispute ; [타동사] 1. 논하다, 토의하다(discuss); 논박하다 ;; [VERB] If you dispute a fact, statement, or theory, you say that it is incorrect or untrue. [본문으로]
8. cheer ; 5. [U] 음식, 성찬. [본문으로]
9. populous ; 인구가 많은, 인구 밀도가 높은; (장소가) 사람이 많은, (…으로) 붐비는, 만원인[with]. ;; [ADJ] A populous country or area has a lot of people living in it. [본문으로]
10. diverge ; (격식) 1. [자동사] ~ (from sth) (다른 방향으로) 갈라지다[분기하다/나뉘다] ;; [VERB] If one thing diverges from another similar thing, the first thing becomes different from the second or develops differently from it. You can also say that two things diverge. [본문으로]