Gross National Happiness

In 1972, at the age of 17, the newly crowned King of Bhutan declared that happiness was more important than economic growth. As such he developed a concept for happiness; Gross National Happiness (GNH). Instead of doing the predictable accumulation of power and wealth during his reign, the 4th King of Bhutan, HM Jigme Singye Wangchuck made the happiness of the people of Bhutan the guiding goal of development. He decided that gross national happiness was a much better way to measure a country’s real wealth than gross national product.  He believed that happiness is an indicator of good development and good society. When the nation transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a democratic nation in 2008 the reigning king (the 5^th King of Bhutan) ensured that happiness would remain a priority and he built it into the young country’s constitution.  In 1972, channelling growth in GDP towards happiness was considered quite new (if not absurd) but in recent times, GNH has attracted attention. Opinion around the world has started to converge on happiness as a collective goal and a tool to measure happiness has been developed.  Additional, research has also indicated considerable benefits to the workplace in that happiness raises productivity by increasing workers' effort.