Welcome to new India: it’s shiny and unhappy.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Looks like we Indians are going wrong, somewhere. India ranks 118 th in the World Happiness Index, down from 117th in 2015. India had ranked 111th in 2013.
The World Happiness Report calculated each country’s ranking on the basis of six variables:
- The index considers six key categories to calculate this index.
- GDP per capita
- Healthy years of life expectancy
- Social support (as measured by having someone to count on in times of trouble)
- Trust (as measured by a perceived absence of corruption in government and business)
- Perceived freedom to make life decisions
- Generosity (as measured by recent donations)
Differences in social support, incomes and healthy life expectancy are the three most important factors, the report states. (link to be inserted)
Comparatively speaking, India is not doing abysmally on the GDP stakes. Our life expectancy is healthy enough. We enjoy greater freedom than in countries like Iran, Pakistan and Italy (all of which are happier than India, if the data is to be believed).
The report said that India was among the group of 10 countries witnessing the biggest happiness declines, along with Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Botswana.
India comes below Somalia (76), China (83), Pakistan (92), Iran (105), Palestinian Territories (108) and Bangladesh (110).
Source- Google Images
Why is Somalia a happier country?
Ranked at 76 globally in the 2015 World Happiness Report, Somalia is the happiest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by Kenya at 122.
- Somalis, may be living with a daily bombardment by the Al-Shabaab, but those people have retained more happiness about their country.
- The report does not assess Somalis’ happiness about GDP, which is fettered by war anyway.
- And though they have little to say about their health and life expectancy, researchers found that their sense of generosity, social support and imagined happiness and residual liking makes them happier than any other country in the East African region.
Source- Google Images
Why is India unhappy?
The World Happiness index takes into account factors like GDP per capita, social support of having someone to count on in times of trouble, freedom to make life choices, healthy life expectancy, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
Leading experts across fields -- economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, health, public policy and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations.
- A 13 year analysis of Crime Data reveals there is one rape every 30 minutes in India
- One in five cases of honour killing internationally every year comes from India (United Nations)
- The rate of malnutrition cases among children in India is almost five times more than in China and twice than in Sub-Saharan Africa (The World Bank Report)
- 12 million children spend their childhood at work and not in a classroom (Census 2011)
- 270 million persons live below the Tendulkar Poverty Line (NSSO Survey 2013)
- People are happier living in societies where there is less inequality of happiness.
- In addition to these startling facts, the scams and controversies which keep popping up every other day are only adding to the misery.
Source - Google images
MENTAL HEALTH
Back in 2011, a WHO-sponsored study concluded that while around 9% of people in India reported having an extended period of depression within their lifetime, nearly
36% suffered from what is called Major Depressive Episode (MDE).
In 2013, it was reported that
10% of the Indian population suffered from “minor” mental disorders such as stress, anxiety and depression. With this in mind, India's low ranking in The World Happiness Report doesn't seem odd. A heartbreaking 72% felt they needed to conceal their diagnoses because they anticipated censure or discrimination.
- India’s mental health care is underfunded. India spends a mere 0.06 percent of its health budget on mental care, compared to developed nations such as the United States, which spends 6.2 percent of GDP on mental health, and England which spends 10.82 percent. Even Bangladesh trumps India on its mental health expenditure budget.
- According to the India’s health ministry, 6-7 percent of India’s population suffers from psychosocial disabilities — roughly 75 million people. Yet India has a psychiatrist to patient ratio of one psychiatrist for every 343,000 patients.
- Currently, India has just 23% of the required psychiatrists, 25% of required psychiatric nurses and only 3% of the required clinical psychologists and psychiatric social workers. This means India presently has 3,500 psychiatrists, 500 clinical psychologists, 300 psychiatric social workers and about a 1,000 psychiatric nurses.
Add to that the fact that going to see a counsellor or a psychiatrist is invariably treated like a dirty secret.
Source - Google images
Conclusion
The stereotype of India is that it is a place where loneliness vanishes. We’ve surrounded ourselves with stories and images of well-meaning, meddling family members; strangers who invade your personal space because they figure you need help; big fat Indian weddings, and jubilant festivals like Holi and Durga Puja in which crowds become comrades.
It isn’t as though none of this is true, but it’s equally evident that as a society, we’re going through some difficult times. Let’s hope we’re able to talk our way out of them.
