While this question may evoke many possible answers, an effort is being made to measure & quantify happiness across the world. The World Happiness Report is the outcome of such an effort and claims to be a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The formal reporting started three years ago, in 2012, and the latest report was published in April 2015.
The authorities involved in publishing the report have even made up an imaginary country called Dystopia to help them to have a benchmark. They explain the rationale behind naming the country - Since life would be very unpleasant in a country with the world’s lowest incomes, lowest life expectancy, lowest generosity, most corruption, least freedom and least social support, it is referred to as Dystopia, in contrast to Utopia.
While the report gets wide attention to know how different countries have fared, does it really add value? Is it worth the effort to conduct the survey, consolidate, compile and publish reports? Well, happiness is just a state of mind. What makes you happy in a moment may not really mean anything the next immediate moment. Can this mental state be effectively captured by means of a survey?
This debate is not new and in fact the authors try addressing this in Chapter 2 of the report "The geography of world happiness". They also mention why the word "happiness" was used in the title instead of "subjective well-being". However the criticism and concerns continue to pour in. Anyway finally it all boils down to "How happy are you?". What say you?
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