Survey Points to Happiness Deficit in Japan

The Paris-based polling company Ipsos conducted a happiness survey, targeting 23,765 people in 30 countries. The survey found that 12% of respondents in Japan were “very happy” and 48% were “rather happy,” for a total of 60%. Japan ranked at twenty-seventh among the 30 countries. India had the highest percentage of people describing themselves as happy at 88%, compared to the overall average of 71%.

Overall, emerging economies with greater growth potential had a higher proportion of people who felt happy. Among G7 countries, France had the highest percentage of happy residents, at 73%, placing it fifteenth overall.

Japan ranked at the very bottom of the survey in terms of the percentage of respondents who agreed with the statements “My current quality of life is good” and “I expect my overall quality of life to be much better in five years than it is now.” The results point to a sense of stagnation in Japan, where people are neither satisfied with their current situation nor hopeful about the future.

Among Japanese respondents who said they were “not happy” about their current situation, the most commonly cited factor concerned their “financial situation,” at 64%, more than double the second most common response, which pointed to doubts regarding “feeling my life has meaning,” at 27%. For those who described themselves as “happy,” the most common reasons were “my family and children,” at 41.1%, and a “feeling of being loved,” at 41.0%.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)