How much does happiness cost?

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What is the price of happiness? How much money do you need to be happy? Various studies and research projects have already attempted to answer these questions. A 2010 US study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, for example, concluded that a higher income equates to an objectively greater sense of achievement, which increases emotional well-being—but only up to an annual income of 75,000 US dollars per person. Beyond that, more money would not make you any happier.

The study “Happiness, income satiation, and turning points around the world,” conducted by Purdue University in 2018, surveyed 1.7 million people in 164 countries and came to a similar conclusion. According to the study, the average monetary happiness limit was 60–75,000 dollars. However, according to the researchers, the decisive factor is big differences between countries, and “happiness saturation” occurs later in wealthier regions, i.e., only with more money.
Foreign exchange provider S Money has taken this idea and compared the figures from the Purdue study, considering purchasing power and the local cost of living. Because if the income level influences happiness, then this also depends heavily on where the money is spent.

What is the result? Happiness “costs” the most in Iran. Here, it is only achieved with an annual income of 239,700 US dollars. Sierra Leone, in Africa, is the easiest place to afford happiness, with a yearly revenue of 8658 US dollars.

As you might expect, some of the highest-income countries in the world are among the nations where happiness is most expensive. Norway, for example, is in fifth place with 117,724 dollars. However, this cannot be generalized; after all, more than half of the population in Iran lives below the poverty line, and one in nine has to get by on less than 5.5 dollars a day. Added to this is the very high inflation rate of 47.7 percent. The price of happiness here is probably due to economic circumstances, concludes S Money.

Top 10 countries with the highest price of happiness:

Iran (239,700 dollars)
Yemen (172,140 dollars)
Australia (121,191 dollars)
Zimbabwe (118,342 dollars)
Norway (117,724 dollars)
Switzerland (115,745 dollars)
New Zealand (114,597 dollars)
Israel (112,506 dollars)
Iceland (111,908 dollars)
the USA (105,000 dollars)

Top 10 countries with the lowest price for happiness:

Sierra Leona (8,658 dollars)
Suriname (10,255 dollars)
Madgaskar (11,355 dollars)
Guyana (11,707 dollars)
Sudan (11,845 dollars)
Nicaragua (11,941 dollars)
Colombia (12,159 dollars)
the Gambia (12,597 dollars)
Bolivia (12,795 dollars)
Ghana (12,949 dollars)

What is the situation in Austria? Here, you need an annual income of 86,216 dollars. This puts Austria behind countries such as Norway (117,724 dollars), Switzerland (115,745 dollars), Iceland (111,908 dollars), and Luxembourg (97,989 dollars).