Sex Not Needed For Happiness
Breaking News, Funny News October 11th, 2007
Family, health and religion - and not sex - make Filipinos most happy, according to a new Philippine Happiness Index.
The index, crafted by Dr. Romulo A. Virola, Secretary General of the National Statistical Coordination Board, was posted on the Board’s website on Tuesday.
Family ranked first as the most important source of happiness, with a score of 9.45 on a scale of 10. Health came next with 8.95, while religion ranked third with 8.59.
Other important sources of happiness include friends (8.57), financial security (8.3), education (8.25), love life (8.2) and work (7.94).
On a list of 95 countries, the Philippines is on the “middle-range” of the World Database of Happiness Index.
From 1995 to 2005, the country’s average rating of 6.4 placed it in about the same bracket as India (6.2), Iran, (6.0), Poland (5.9) and South Korea (5.8.) The world index is currently topped by Denmark, with a rating of 8.2.
The Philippine Happiness Index is not easily dismissed, coming from someone who holds a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, United States, and who has taught mathematics and statistics at the University of the Philippines. Virola is also a past president of the Philippine Statistical Association.
Co-written with Jessamyn O. Encarnacion, the index was based on a nonrandom poll of 167 respondents conducted during the National Convention on Statistics held on Oct. 1-2, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
It was “quite surprising” that sex was not an important source of happiness, and that at 14th place, it was ranked among the five least important, said Virola who is also chairman of the Statistical Research and Training Center in Manila.
The Philippine Happiness Index is based on the premise that economic progress and happiness are not synonymous, Virola said. But along with standard statistical queries, the index factored in friends, love life and sex life.
According to the index, politics is the least important source of happiness. Other unimportant domains are cultural activities, community and volunteer work and government. Leisure and sports - also surprisingly - is the 6th least important domain.
“Respondents derive very little happiness, or maybe much unhappiness, from politics,” Virola said. “Politicians may be amusing but they apparently do not make people happy.”
Other findings: many consider the enjoyment of sex not bad. Six out of 10 respondents think that progress is synonymous with happiness. Women are happier than men. And happiness rises with income.
Virola now wants to link the Philippine Happiness Index with a Philippine Economic Index and come up with a Philippine Gross National Happiness Index.
Source: WayOdd
