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Exec 1ve s m ary

Studies of happiness have a long history and are

internationally recognized as legitimate. The UN General
Assembly declared, on June 28, 2012, that March 20
of every year is "The International Day of Happiness".

The UN sees happiness as a basic human right and
encouraged every member country to advance policies

to improve happiness of the population through economic
1
development, good society and the environment. A
number of countries, including France, the UK and Bhutan

defined concepts and factors contributing to happiness
of their citizens which looked beyond simple economic
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2
indicators. Helliwell, Layard and Sachs have proposed
that studying the causes of happiness, both direct and
indirect, is an important technical area of social science.

United Nations. 2013. International Day of Happiness. From http://www.un.org/en/events/
happinessday/. retrieved on April 22nd 2013.
2
Lei ks, 0. 2013. Minimizing misery: a new strategy for public policy instead of maximizing happiness.
Social Indicators Research, 114: 121-137.
3
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. 2012. World Happiness Report. The Earth Institute, Columbia
University, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR}, Centre for Economic Performance,
London School of Economics and The Centre for Bhutan Studies.

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