Maldives to Begin Calculating National Happiness Index

The government has launched its first-ever surveys to assess the Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index of the Maldives. 

Minister of Cities, Local Government, and Public Works Adam Shareef Umar announced that the nationwide survey will evaluate various factors, including happiness, wellbeing, life satisfaction, as well as sustainability and resilience within the Maldivian population.

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https://x.com/Adamshareefz/status/1816102068282876172

This announcement was made in a post on the social media platform X. Minister Adam expressed his satisfaction in partnering with the Islamic University of Maldives (IUM) as a research collaborator in developing the country’s Happiness Index. 

He highlighted that a workshop held at IUM yesterday facilitated a robust exchange of ideas from diverse perspectives on how to formulate the index.

The Happiness Index is a survey instrument designed to assess the happiness, well-being, and aspects of sustainability and resilience among a country’s residents. Typically, the index evaluates ten key areas of life, including mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing, and time allocation across various life activities. It also assesses opportunities for learning, art, and cultural practice, community relationships and generosity, social support, and environmental connection. 

Additionally, the index considers perception of government, standard of living, and economic prosperity and income.

To date, there has been no specific index developed to measure happiness in the Maldives.