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If it is often said that money does not buy happiness, it contributes greatly. In any case, this is what American researchers say, who have established the “happiness bonus” of several countries in the world. According to them, you will need to have more than 89,200 dollars (about 75,400 euros) per year to be happy in France.
Scientists from Purdue University had previously determined that it takes, on average, 170,000 dollars (144,000 euros) per year to feel happy in life. Beyond this sum, what you will earn will not increase your feeling of happiness and satisfaction.
But this figure varies greatly if you live in Japan or Burkina Faso. A news studyproduced by Expensivity, builds on their work to obtain the “bonus of happiness” from 160 countries around the world. It is based in particular on several indicators of purchasing power from the World Bank, but also on the cost of living in these different States.
It turns out that Bermuda is the country where the “happiness bonus” is the highest, around 145,000 dollars (123,000 euros). And for good reason, the cost of living there would be 147 times higher than in New York. The North American archipelago is followed by Australia and Israel, where you need respectively 135,321 dollars and 130,457 dollars (i.e. 115,000 and 110,000 euros) to hope to be happy. If Finland has found itself at the top of the ranking of the happiest countries of the “World Happiness Report” of the United Nations for the fourth consecutive year, this privileged position has a cost… prohibitive. Count 103,337 dollars (about 87,400 euros) to be “onnellinen”, or “happy” in Finnish. For a few dollars more, you can also see if the grass is greener in the United States, where the “happiness bonus” amounts to 105,000 dollars (about 88,800 euros). In France, the study estimates that with 89,200 dollars per year, or 75,400 euros, you will experience happiness.
If your savings don’t allow you to consider a move to Bermuda or Australia, maybe try your luck in Suriname. You will need 6,799 dollars (5,750 euros) to hope to find happiness there. Argentina and Angola are also among the countries where happiness would be the least prohibitively expensive, according to the study.
Discover the list of countries where happiness “costs the most” below:
1 – Bermuda ($143,933)
2 – Australia ($135,321)
3 – Israel ($130,457)
4 – Switzerland ($128,969)
5 – New Zealand ($128,844)
6 – Norway ($114,147)
7 – Denmark ($109,142)
8 – Japan ($107,587)
9 – Iceland ($107,351)
10 – United States ($105,000)