Word Happiness Day 2024: Elders in India happier, but India stands at 126th

HYDERABAD: India ranks 126th in the World Happiness Report 2024, released on Wednesday. The top 10 countries include Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Israel. Afghanistan is deemed the least happy, followed by Congo, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, and Lebanon.

The United States and Germany have dropped in ranks, while China is now placed 60th, Nepal 93rd, Pakistan 108th, Myanmar 118th, Sri Lanka 128th, and Bangladesh 129th. Canada is ranked 15th, followed by the United Kingdom (20th), Germany (24) and France (27) respectively. The United Arab Emirates is ranked 22nd, while Saudi Arabia ranks 28th. Singapore ranks 30th, Japan 50th, and South Korea 51st, as per the latest World Happiness Report 2024.

The ranking criteria encompass self-assessed life satisfaction, GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption.

The Happiness Report 2024 found that older men in India, those in the higher age groups, currently married, and those who were educated reported higher life satisfaction compared to their respective peers. Lower satisfaction with living arrangements, perceived discrimination, and poor self-rated health were important factors associated with low life satisfaction among older Indians.

The study also found that elderly Indians with higher education and from higher social castes reported greater satisfaction compared to individuals with no formal education and those from lower castes.

The report indicated that, on average, older men in India generally reported higher life satisfaction than older women. However, when taking additional factors into account, older women reported greater overall life satisfaction than men.

The present study substantially contributes to the literature on later-life subjective well-being in India. This contribution is achieved through the utilisation of a large, diverse, and nationally representative sample of older Indians.

Findings of this study indicated strengthening family networks to ensure a comfortable living arrangement for older adults, men, widowed, and those without formal education in particular, and bolstering social networks to reduce discrimination may enhance well-being in older age.

A systematic review of 24 studies among older adults (60+ years) in Asian countries, including India, has identified age, gender, social relationships, social engagement, living arrangements, education, income, caste, religion, health behaviors, health conditions, and health care to affect life satisfaction in later life.

Few studies have examined life satisfaction among older adults in India, yet those that have found that factors such as poor childhood, financial status, lack of social support in late life, physical frailty, and feelings of loneliness are associated with lower levels of life satisfaction.

However, past studies have focused on particular factors determining satisfaction with life in old age, meaning that comprehensive assessment of diverse predictors of life satisfaction among older men and women in a gendered sociocultural context of India remains limited.