Middle class have biggest smiles
By Wu Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-18 11:01
Considered in the index are factors including income, medical care, social
order and equality, the sense of family and other interpersonal relationships,
professional satisfaction, and the feeling of belonging.
The survey found
that income level was the most important individual factor in determining
people's sense of happiness, followed by social standing.
The survey
shows that 31.6 per cent of people are 90 per cent happy with their lives. Only
7.2 per cent are less than 50 per cent satisfied. In between are those who are
60 to 90 per cent satisfied.
The index also shows that among all age
groups, the middle-aged rank as the least happy shouldering the heaviest
sense of social responsibility.
And that those living in the suburbs are
happier than people who dwell in downtown Beijing.
Though citizens may
have different opinions about what happiness is, many citizens welcome the
index.
"This is different from previous official indexes which were cold
and impersonal this index touches the hearts of individual citizens," Chen
Liangwen, an economic researcher with Peking University, told China
Daily.
Chen also said that while other indexes, such as gross domestic
product (GDP), measured technically calculable factors, the psychological state
of satisfaction was so subjective it could hardly be represented in
figures.
According to the bureau spokeswoman, the index will be released
annually, every September, helping to draw the government's attention to its
shortcomings, and the effects of its policies.
Yu hinted that the
municipal government would consider incorporating the index in its evaluation of
officials' work.
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