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Are poor people happier than rich people?

Wealth and Happiness This contradicts the notion that poor people are happier. The research found happiness related to wealth when comparing people with higher incomes with those of lower incomes.

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TACOMA, Washington — At least once in their lives, everyone has probably heard a version of the saying, “money can’t buy happiness.” Some even justify this by referencing the two billion people around the world who live in extreme poverty but still experience joy. When westerners visit impoverished communities, it is common to hear descriptions like “despite having so little, they were so happy.” Even some research supports the idea that a lower GDP can lead to a more fulfilled life. However, it isn’t a straightforward relationship. When addressing global poverty, the simplification that poor people are happier can be dangerous and undermine the harsh realities of the world’s poor. Although wealth isn’t correlated with happiness, neither is poverty.

Wealth and Happiness

On several occasions, research has shown that people living in poverty report lower life satisfaction, lower subjective well-being and lower levels of positive emotion. Even the World Happiness Index ranks the high-income countries as the happiest. Africa is home to the majority of the world’s poor and has the least happy countries. This contradicts the notion that poor people are happier. The research found happiness related to wealth when comparing people with higher incomes with those of lower incomes. However, it also compared people living in high-income countries with those living in low-income countries. In a study involving 132 countries, researchers found that in order to have an average life satisfaction rating of five out of 10, people needed to make an average of $3,000 per year.

Wealth and Fulfillment

The same study also evaluated the levels of fulfillment that people with various income levels reported. It found that poorer people reported higher levels of meaning in their lives. While only 66% of people in wealthier nations reported having meaningful lives, this number rose to above 95% in impoverished countries. Although it may appear that this is to do with the money these people had, it may actually have more to do with religious faith. Only 25% of Europeans identify as highly religious compared with 90% of Africans. Additionally, even high-income African’s reported higher happiness levels than similar income Europeans. Another study has shown that happiness and fulfillment are separate topics. While fulfilling immediate needs increases happiness, it doesn’t necessarily impact fulfillment. There are many ways human beings find meaning. In wealthier nations, people that are more philanthropic repeatedly report leading more meaningful lives. As it happens, solving global poverty benefits the life satisfaction of poor people as well as those who help them. Although money doesn’t buy happiness, it does buy basic necessities like food, safe water and shelter. Around 43% of the world can’t afford a healthy diet, two billion people lack access to safe water and more than 1.5 billion are homeless. Without these basic needs, it is unrealistic to suggest that poor people are happier. The notion that poor people are happier is outdated and not supported by research. Although various cultures have various ways of measuring happiness, research shows that certain things are universally essential. Addressing global poverty requires that people consider basic necessities as human rights and not privileges. By respecting more human rights and providing solutions to global poverty, the world is essentially happier.

Photo: Unsplash

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The hardest part of becoming a billionaire isn't keeping tabs on your accounts, finding friends and employees you can trust, or juggling the demands on your deep pockets. It's getting started.

Billionaire Ted Turner is responsible for major television networks including CNN. Chip Somodevilla/Getty The hardest part of becoming a billionaire isn't keeping tabs on your accounts, finding friends and employees you can trust, or juggling the demands on your deep pockets.

It's getting started.

At least, that was the hardest part for media magnate and billionaire Ted Turner. In "Billionaires: Reflections On The Upper Crust," Darrell M. West recalls Turner's 1995 address to Brown University, where West was teaching political science.

West describes a key point in Turner's presentation:

His most difficult challenge, he said, had been making the first million dollars; after that, everything was easy. Money begets money, he bluntly observed, thereby making it possible to gain even greater wealth through social and political connections. West uses this comment as a jumping off point for a discussion of how the wealthiest citizens in the US wield undue influence on its government. "This, of course, is the crux of the controversy about the role of billionaires in society," he writes. Not every recollection from Turner's visit to Brown was so heavy, however: He also talked about raising Buffalo in Montana, and joked that his favorite part of ranch life was the ability to "take a whiz" off his front porch.

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