This research emerges from personal observations made across diverse countries, where an unexpected contrast was noted: individuals in economically less affluent countries often appeared more outwardly happy than those in wealthier, “first-world” nations. This observation sparked curiosity and scrutiny of the World Happiness Report, where paradoxically, some of the highest-ranked nations in terms of happiness also exhibited high suicide rates. This phenomenon highlighted the complex and multidimensional nature of happiness and well-being, extending beyond purely economic metrics like GDP.

Grounded in psychology, this study adopts a subjective well-being approach to assess happiness, focusing on intrinsic and environmental factors such as mental health and sunlight exposure. Psychological research, particularly the work of Ed Diener and the positive psychology movement, emphasises that subjective well being measured by individual perceptions of life satisfaction, emotions, and mental health provides a more nuanced and accurate understanding of happiness compared to external metrics like income. To align with this perspective, traditional economic indicators, especially GDP, are removed from the analysis, allowing an examination of happiness influenced by non-economic variables.