ABSTRACT
The pursuit of happiness is considered to be the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy. Human well-being is more than wealth. United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy famously pointed out that GDP “measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile,” and today GDP is increasingly recognized as an insufficient measure of quality of life. With good reason: we have gotten richer – but not happier. We have therefore failed, it seems, to convert wealth into well-being.In the latest report, Taiwan was ranked 26th out of 156 countries, with a score of 6.441, while Finland was rated the highest (7.632) and Burundi the lowest (2.905). Five Nordic countries appear in the top ten ranking (1–4, and 9), and this leads us to reflect on why this is the case. In this survey, almost two-thirds of the participants (65%) stated that they considered themselves addicted to their smartphones. Although generally happy with their lives (scoring 7.0), the 161 participants showed moderate anxiety, with an average Nomophobia score of 68.
