Happiness is normally associated with possession of wealth, which is why people all over the world toil and employ various means to earn and enhance their income. The poor often spend their lives in sorrow or bitterness over their lack of material wealth, or resign themselves to their fate. It need not be so. Money can certainly make life more comfortable and widen the range of opportunities available to a person for education, job training and employment, but it cannot buy happiness. It is observed that that good mental and physical health, someone to count on, job security and stable families are key factors in determining the wellbeing of individuals. At the community level, political freedom, strong social networks and absence of corruption are together more important than income for happiness.
Partly reflecting is the fact that happiness ultimately is in the mind of a man. Mental health is the biggest single factor affecting happiness in any country. The poor usually despair over their fate when they focus on what they don’t have and compare themselves with those better off than themselves.
