There have been surveys of happiness in many countries, for a long time. SWS did its first national happiness survey in 1991, and repeated it in 1996, 1998, and at least once a year from 2000 to 2011.
I used to be lukewarm about such surveys. In the first place, cross-country happiness contests don’t interest me. More importantly, increasing happiness, unlike, say, decreasing hunger and poverty, is not an official objective in the Philippines (or anywhere else, except in Bhutan).
Now, however, I see that the social relevance of happiness surveys is that they also tell us about unhappiness. To the extent that such unhappiness is due to hunger or poverty, I think it is socially undeserved. Keeping track of undeserved unhappiness by means of surveys adds to the advocacy for reducing hunger and poverty.
The standard survey question on happiness is: “If you consider your life in general these days, how happy or unhappy would you say you are on the whole? Are you: Very Happy, Fairly Happy, Not Very Happy, or Not At All Happy?” (abbreviated here as VH, FH, NVH and NAAH). In Filipino, SWS asks: “Kung iisipin ninyo ang inyong buhay sa kabuuan sa ngayon, masasabi ba ninyo na kayo ay: Talagang Masaya, Medyo Masaya, Hindi Masyadong Masaya, o Talagang Hindi Masaya?”
The most recent connection of unhappiness to hunger. When last surveyed by SWS in June 2011, the happiness results were (in percentages of adults): VH 41.5, FH 41.9, NVH 13.5, and NAAH 3.1.
The 3.1 percent extremely unhappy is meaningful since it equals 1.7 million persons, when applied to a national base of 55.7 million adults. Adding the 13.5 percent NVH to the 3.1 percent NAAH gives 16.6 percent “broadly unhappy,” corresponding to 9.2 million adults.
In June 2011, SWS surveyed plain hunger, i.e. either moderate or severe hunger, at 15.1 percent of households, of which 2.0 percentage points were in severe hunger in particular. Let us compare: (a) unhappiness of the plain hungry versus the non-hungry households; (b) unhappiness of the severely hungry versus the non-hungry; and (c) unhappiness of the severely hungry versus the plain hungry. The results of all three comparisons make sense.
For June 2011, in households without hunger, extreme unhappiness or NAAH was expressed by only 1.9 percent of adults. In those with moderate/severe hunger, NAAH was felt by 10.1 percent, or five times that in non-hungry households; this is comparison (a). In those with severe hunger in particular, NAAH was felt by 21.5 percent, or 10 times that of the non-hungry—comparison (b)—and double that of the plain hungry—comparison (c).
Let us then look at broad unhappiness. For June 2011, in households without hunger, broad unhappiness or NVH/NAAH was expressed by 14.0 percent of adults. In those with moderate/severe hunger, it was felt by 30.9 percent, or double that in non-hungry households. In those with severe hunger in particular, it was felt by 37.5 percent, or 2.5 times that of the non-hungry, and significantly larger than that of the plain hungry.
Analysis of full data on unhappiness and hunger. SWS has just completed similar analysis for all its 18 national surveys of happiness that also included hunger, over 2000-2011.
In that period of time, in households without hunger, extreme unhappiness or NAAH was felt by a median of only 2.7 percent. On the other hand, in households with moderate/severe hunger, extreme unhappiness was felt by a median of 7.3 percent. Furthermore, in those with severe hunger in particular, it was felt by a median of 13.0 percent.
In 2000-2011, among households without hunger, broad unhappiness or NVH/NAAH was felt by a median of 16.3 percent. However, in households suffering moderate/severe hunger, broad unhappiness was felt by a median of 29.1 percent. Furthermore, in households suffering severe hunger in particular, broad unhappiness was felt by a median of 37.2 percent.
Thus the full dataset of 18 surveys, summarized by medians, points to unhappiness as lowest among those without hunger, mid-level among those in plain hunger, and highest among those in severe hunger. This is generally true not only for the three comparisons of extreme unhappiness (which one would expect to be extremely visible) but also for the three comparisons of broad unhappiness. The excess unhappiness associated with hunger is the undeserved unhappiness.
Since six comparisons are done for each survey with unhappiness and hunger data available, the 18 surveys allow for 108 possible comparisons. In these 108 comparisons, the expected excess or undeserved unhappiness occurs 94 times, or a validation rate of 87 percent.
Unhappiness and poverty. There are 19 SWS surveys (one in 1991 and 18 in 2000-2011) for which one can check whether unhappiness among poor households (i.e. self-rated poor) is greater than among the non-poor.
In the entire dataset, extreme unhappiness or NAAH among the poor has a median of 4.0 percent, compared to only 2.4 percent among the non-poor. Broad unhappiness or NVH/NAAH has a median of 21.8 percent among the poor, compared to only 14.4 percent among the non-poor. In the 38 possible comparisons, the expected undeserved unhappiness occurs 35 times, or a validation rate of 92 percent.
Studying unhappiness, not happiness, does more to help the least of our brethren.
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Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph. Special tabulations are by Josefina Mar of SWS.