The State has begun conducting surveys to measure the Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index of the Maldives for the first time in the country's history in collaboration with the Islamic University of Maldives.
The State has begun conducting surveys to measure the Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index of the Maldives for the first time in the country's history.
Minister of Cities, Local Government and Public Works Adam Shareef Umar said that a country-wide survey is being initiated to measure the GNH Index - which will analyze happiness, wellbeing, life satisfaction and aspects of sustainability and resilience of the Maldivian populace.
The work is underway in collaboration with the Islamic University of Maldives, said the Minister, and the workshop on GNH Index held at the University yesterday had observed deliberations on a diverse range of ideas and visions required to progress the initiative.
The GNH Index is a survey tool which provides six types of results on sufficiency, life conditions and happiness, reports the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), which can be broken down to separate demographics such as gender and district to assess individual results.
According to OPHI, the framework of the GNH Index constitutes of nine domains which identifies four groups of people; unhappy, narrowly happy, extensively happy, and deeply happy. These domains are
- Psychological wellbeing
- Health
- Time use
- Education
- Cultural diversity and resilience
- Community vitality
- Ecological diversity and resilience
- Good governance
- Living standards
The GNH Index annually analyzes the happiness factor of countries world-wide and ranks them according to the results, with Finland ranked the happiest following a score of 7.842 out of 10. Meanwhile, countries in the South Asian region, such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are ranked below 100 in this index.
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