But more broadly, as happiness economist Jan-Emmanuel De Neve argues, the best way to boost societal happiness is to focus on the needs of the least happy. This might be one reason Canada (ranked ninth) beat the U.S. (ranked 19th) on this year’s World Happiness Report. Our own experiments have shown that it also nurtures social trust, which is a prime driver of societal happiness. Living amid inequality — especially extreme inequality — makes everyone less happy, according to the authors of the World Happiness Report. Encourage loiteringThe World Happiness Report finds that social connections are the single most powerful predictor of societal happiness.

Source: National Post March 22, 2019 19:04 UTC