International Day of Happiness

The International Day of Happiness falls on 20 March. It is a United Nations day, first observed in 2013, and it came out of an argument about how countries measure success.

Below: where it came from, what the annual research actually says, and how to mark it without a corporate wellbeing workshop.

Where the day came from

• Bhutan spent decades arguing that Gross National Happiness mattered alongside economic output.
• In 2011 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on happiness as a development goal.
• In 2012 it declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness, first marked in 2013.
• The World Happiness Report has been published annually since 2012, usually released around the same date.
• Nordic countries have topped it consistently; the UK typically sits in the upper twenties.

What the research actually points at

• Social support - having someone to count on - is one of the strongest factors in national scores.
• Income matters, but with diminishing returns once basic security is met.
• Freedom to make life choices and low corruption both rate highly.
• Generosity shows up in the data: people who give report higher wellbeing.
• Loneliness is the counterweight to almost all of it.

Realistic ways to mark it

• Contact the person you have been meaning to contact for a month.
• Write one thank you note by hand.
• Do the generous thing that nobody will know about.
• Take an actual lunch break away from a screen.
• Ask one person how they are and wait for the second answer.
• Book the thing that gives you something to look forward to. Anticipation does real work.

At work

• Cancel a meeting instead of organising a wellbeing session.
• Say specific thank yous rather than generic ones.
• Ask what would genuinely help this week, then do that.
• Send cards to the team who never get mentioned in the all-hands.
• Resist making happiness a performance target.

Browse gifts to make someone smile

How to write it so it lands

• Social connection outranks nearly everything else in the data. Contact one person.
• Anticipation counts - booking something is itself part of the effect.

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Frequently asked questions

When is International Day of Happiness?

20 March every year. It was established by the United Nations in 2012 and first observed in 2013.

What does the World Happiness Report measure?

Mainly people's own ratings of their lives, alongside factors including social support, income, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceived corruption.