in which countries it was created, what happened

Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko recently, either jokingly or seriously, proposed creating a Ministry of Happiness in Russia. Earlier, Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov came up with a similar initiative. True, as a result, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Family Policy appeared in the region. Kommersant studied foreign experience in creating institutions to make citizens happy.

IN Kingdom of Bhutan was put into circulation back in the 1970s concept gross national happiness (GNH), which has become the local analogue of GDP. The state’s obligation to create conditions that will enable the achievement of general national happiness is enshrined in the 2008 constitution. A state government has been created to control the process. Commission for General People’s Happiness, headed by the country’s prime minister.

The GNH concept is based on four main principles: fair and sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and development of culture, environmental protection and effective public administration. They are divided into nine more specific areas: from standard of living, physical health and psychological well-being to availability of free time (including sleep). The main indicator for assessing progress is the Gross National Happiness Index, calculated based on surveys based on 33 criteria. The final score ranges from 0 (poor) to 1 (excellent).

Meaning index increased from 0.743 in 2010 to 0.781 in 2022. Recent surveys have shown that 48.1% of the kingdom’s residents aged 15 and older are happy. Including 9.5% are absolutely happy, the rest are quite happy.

It is noteworthy that in the global happiness ranking from the UN (World Happiness Report), which evaluates life in countries around the world according to six criteria, the kingdom is not represented. Perhaps, against the backdrop of such a serious approach to measuring happiness within the country, international experts considered their efforts redundant.

Ministry of Higher Public Happiness of Venezuela was created in 2013, when Nicolas Maduro took office. In theory, the new government body was supposed to continue the social projects launched under its predecessor, Hugo Chavez. In particular, to fight poverty, provide assistance to vulnerable segments of the population, including the disabled, the homeless, pregnant women, the elderly and children.

The ministry continues to operate, but little is known about the results of its work. The opposition complains that social programs are carried out “off-budget” and without parliamentary control.

In the latest UN happiness ranking, which covers the period from 2020 to 2022, Venezuela ranks at a low 88th place. Moreover, in the first ranking, covering the period from 2012 to 2014, it took 23rd place.

United Arab Emirates We took up the issue of happiness closely in 2016. A post was created Minister of Happiness, whose responsibilities included “achieving social welfare and satisfaction” of the population. First minister became a woman – 22-year-old Ohood al-Rumi. It was assumed that young politicians should have been in charge of this topic.

At the same time, Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum approved a national program to achieve happiness and prosperity. Among specific initiatives — creating a happy and productive work environment in all government departments. Employees, in turn, must provide high-quality services that make their consumers and the entire population of the UAE happy.

In the course of further reform of the Cabinet of Ministers, all functionality and initiatives to achieve happiness and well-being were transferred to the Ministry of Social Development. Formally, the Ministry of Happiness in list There are no UAE government agencies now.

On the eve of the creation of the ministry, the country was in 28th place in the UN global happiness ranking; in the latest ranking it moved to 26th.

Attempts to regulate issues of happiness are also being made at the regional level. In 2016 in government Indian state of Madhya Pradesh was created happiness department He was called up formulate and implement policies aimed at increasing the level of happiness and well-being among residents of the region.

The department’s initial budget was about $500 thousand plus additional funding for specific programs. The staff number is 30 people. Volunteers are widely involved in various programs. Notable initiatives that have been implemented include the introduction of a training subject “Happiness” for high school students. Another idea that has been planned for a long time, but has not yet been implemented, is to conduct a sociological study to determine the level of happiness among the population of the region.

India traditionally ranks at the bottom of the UN happiness rankings. In the 2016 report it was in 118th place, in the latest report it was in 128th place.

In 2017 chapter Imo State in Nigeria Rochas Okorocha announced the creation Ministries of Happiness and Goal Achievement. He appointed his sister Ogechi Ololo as its head. The work of the department began with a curiosity – instead of “achieving goals” (purpose fulfilment), the name initially included “satisfying couples” (couples fulfilment). Then it was attributed to typo.

The initiative was perceived as another extravagant act by the governor. In the future, nothing was heard about the achievements of the department, in the current list it is not listed by state ministries. Mr. Okorocha himself later traded the governorship for a seat in the Nigerian Senate. He is there called create a Ministry of Happiness at the federal level to combat rape and suicide.

Amid attempts to launch a Ministry of Happiness at the regional and federal levels, Nigeria’s place in the UN happiness ranking has not changed: in both the 2017 report and the 2023 report, it is in 95th place.

The above selection suggests that ministries of happiness are created primarily in economically poor and/or politically unfree countries and regions. In the leading countries of the global ranking (Finland, Denmark, Iceland) such government institutions were not found. There is no specialized ministry in the United States either (15th place in the latest UN ranking), although the inalienable right to the “pursuit of happiness” is enshrined there in one of the fundamental documents – the Declaration of Independence of 1776. It is assumed that the implementation of this right is in the hands of the citizens themselves.

It is worth adding that fragmentary mentions of happiness are also found in Russian legislation (70th place in the UN ranking). Most often – in the context of material well-being and family values. Read more about this in the Kommersant article. “They gave their savings to the state with a pure heart”.

Olga Shkurenko