Does money buy happiness?
They say money can’t buy happiness. Research on tribes around the world recently published in the journal ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’(opens in new window) agrees. Global surveys(opens in new window) report that people in wealthier countries exhibit higher levels of life satisfaction than those in poorer ones. However, they omit people in societies where the exchange of money is much less important in daily life and livelihoods directly rely on nature. A research team from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) in collaboration with Canada’s McGill University conducted a survey of nearly 3 000 people from indigenous and local communities at 19 sites worldwide. Only 64 % of the households surveyed had any cash during this period. Findings showed that people in the nature-based societies were as happy and satisfied with their lives as those from industrialised nations.
Economic growth and well-being
“The strong correlation frequently observed between income and life satisfaction is not universal and proves that wealth - as generated by industrialized economies - is not fundamentally required for humans to lead happy lives,” commented senior author and ICTA-UAB researcher Victoria Reyes-García in a news statement(opens in new window). Should we associate income and economic growth then with life satisfaction and well-being? “This strong correlation might suggest that only in rich societies can people be happy,” explained co-author Christopher Barrington-Leigh, associate professor at McGill University, in a news release(opens in new window). “But, because we have only been quantifying the quality of life experience for a few decades, and with a limited set of populations, we need to make sure that we have not been over-generalizing from the patterns we saw at first.”
Finding joy in the little things
The question still remains as to why these communities report high levels of life satisfaction. “Prior work would suggest that family and social support and relationships, as well as spirituality and connections to nature play an important role in this happiness,” elaborated lead author Eric Galbraith, a McGill professor and ICTA-UAB researcher. “But it is possible that the important factors differ significantly between societies or, instead, that a small subset of factors dominate everywhere. I would hope that, by learning more about what makes life satisfying in these diverse communities, it might help many others to lead more satisfying lives while at the same time addressing the sustainability crisis.” Prof. Galbraith believes such research could also benefit the environment in the longer term. “This is good news for the environment because the results provide strong evidence that resource-intensive economic growth is not required to achieve high levels of subjective well-being.”