BARCELONA – You don’t have to earn six digits or more to be happier, according to a new study. People in communities where there is little money are as satisfied as those in wealthy societies. That’s because it focuses on other values, including family and the beauty of nature, explain the scientists.
The finding questions the assumptions that economic growth will increase welfare in poor countries.
“On less monetized sites, we found that people reported a greater proportion of time spent with family and contact with nature as being responsible for making them happy,” explains lead author, Dr. Sara Minarro, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technologies of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in a statement. “But with the increase in monetization, we found that the social and economic factors commonly recognized in industrialized countries played a bigger role. Overall, our findings suggest that monetization, especially in its early stages, can be detrimental to happiness. “
The study was based on 678 individuals between the ages of 20 and 50 in the Solomon Islands and Bangladesh, two very low-income countries. Overall, participants have remarkably high levels of happiness, especially in communities with the lowest levels of monetization. These were comparable to those found in Scandinavian countries, which normally appear at the top of these searches.
In fact, where money was used more, as in urban Bangladesh, happiness really fell.
“Our study suggests possible ways to achieve happiness that are not related to high incomes and material wealth,” says senior author Eric Galbraith, professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill University. “This is important because, if we replicate these results elsewhere and can identify the factors that contribute to subjective well-being, it can help us to circumvent some of the environmental costs associated with achieving social well-being in less developed nations. “
The researchers spent time in several small fishing communities. Participants were interviewed several times over the course of a few months, with the help of local translators. The conversations, in person and through unexpected phone calls, were aimed at obtaining information about what constituted happiness. They also provided a sense of their passing mood, lifestyle, fishing activities, family income and level of integration.
Previous research reveals that technology and access to information from other cultures can affect well-being in comparison. But it didn’t seem to be the case.
“This work contributes to a growing perception that important supports for happiness are not, in principle, related to economic production”, explains co-author Chris Barrington-Leigh, professor at McGill’s Bieler School of Environment. “When people are comfortable, safe and free to enjoy life in a strong community, they are happy – whether they are making money or not.”
The study, published in PLOS ONE, supports previous research that shows that when societies get richer, there is no general increase in happiness. It may not be surprising, then, that wealthy western countries are plagued by high levels of depression. The reason is partly due to the money that fuels envy, psychologists say.
A study of more than 1,200 Americans found that those who valued time over money were actually happier. Another American study of 2,000 millionaires found that they would have to at least double their wealth to be really happy.
SWNS writer Mark Waghorn contributed to this report.