Reuters and Chinese bloggers both wrote about the new “happiness index” formulated by the Chinese government. From Reuters:
China will formulate a new “happiness index” (Âπ∏Á¶èÊåáÊï∞Ôºâthis year to include living conditions, the environment and salary, state television said on Wednesday.
“The Happiness Index will include ordinary people’s feelings towards their own living conditions, such as their income, employment, social welfare and the natural environment,” China Central Television cited statistics chief Qiu Xiaohua as saying.
“The more they feel satisfied about their lives, the higher the index will be,” he said. [Full Text]
Read Tang Wangsheng’s blog post “Why can’t Happiness Index replace the fanatic adoration of GDP” (in Chinese)
Ye Jianping’s blog post ““the relationship between the happiness index and sustainable development” (in Chinese)
See also China’s professional “happiness index” survey from 2004.