GEORGE TOWN, November 24 – A country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national product (GNP) are undoubtedly important and influential indicators of economic development. However, these are couched in wealth and monetary terms, and cannot be a reliable measure of a country’s social progress or of the experienced happiness and wellbeing of its people.
With this in mind, Penang Institute carried out a study to construct what is now known as the Happiness in Penang (HIP) Index. Using the framework of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index (GNH), the Happiness in Penang (HIP) Index takes a multidimensional approach with the four core themes from Penang2030 – liveability, economy, empowering the community, and environment – as its conceptual basis. Consequently, the four domains that constitute the Index (shortened as FEEL) are as follows:
A survey of 3,011 respondents took place between October 2020 to April 2021, to collect data on the sentiments and life satisfaction of Penang citizens. The results were then used for calculating the HIP Index. Summary of Results for Satisfaction Levels
- Where Freedom and Governance is concerned, people are neutral in their sentiments.
- The satisfaction levels are relatively high when it comes to Economic Wellbeing, especially in the areas of social and economic mobility and household expenditure.
- Government policies to protect the environment are well-received by the people, and this shows in the domain for Environmental Sustainability.
- It is in the domain of Liveability and Social Wellbeing that people are most satisfied
THE HIP INDEX 2020/2021
The computed HIP Index 2020/2021 is 0.881 (0 = Unhappy; 1 = Happy*). Approximately 76.5% of Penang citizens consider themselves happy, while the remainder 23.5% are seen as not-yet-happy. Of the not-yet-happy people, 13.7% are narrowly happy while nearly 10% are unhappy. As can be expected, the percentage of happy people varies across the four domains.
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- For the domain of Freedom and Governance, about 78.2% of people in Penang are happy.
- The percentage is higher for the domain of Economic Wellbeing, with 79.1% respondents identifying as happy.
- The domain of Environmental Sustainability saw the lowest percentage of happiness, at 76.1%.
- Happiness is highest, at 79.3%, in the domain of Liveability and Social Wellbeing.
Each domain and its respective indicators make different contributions to the overall happiness of Penangites, illustrating that happiness, satisfaction and sufficiency are subjective to each individual, and not clearly based on material factors alone. In that sense, the HIP Index provides a nuanced picture and reflects experienced life satisfaction in Penang. This index will be used for comparison with future similar surveys to be carried out by Penang Institute. The next survey in this series will begin in Q1 2022.
