Fascinating happiness statistics
2011 was a year of global ups and downs. The whole world celebrated as William and Catherine wed in the spectacular April ceremony, while as a nation later in the year the UK mourned the tragic riots and black face of hardship facing our country.
Ross Larter is a man who knows a great deal about national happiness as he pioneered the crowd-sourced Mood Tracking App & Website MoodPanda.com and has been investigating wellbeing and happiness throughout 2011. The unique community which allows users to track mood, share problems and celebrate success, has given fascinating insight into the nations happiness like never before. Here he gives us the lowdown of what made our moods in 2011.
World Wellbeing and Happiness 2011
By Ross Larter @RossLarter of Moodpanda.com
Research from a sample of 15,000 people shows a series of highs and lows which have affected our happiness over the course of the year.
Key world events affecting happiness
Major world events which have caused a change in mood have been tracked throughout 2011. In March, the world’s mood dropped as a result of the Japanese Tsunami disaster and only recovered with the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in April.
World mood remained high until the exam season got underway and caused a remarkable drop in happiness for the month of June. This was only short lived however, and when exams ended and the summer festival season arrived, world mood was at it’s highest for the year.
Unfortunately these good times where cut short. With the UK riots in August and the onset of autumn, the good feeling was pulled back down. In October when Apple CEO Steve Jobs died we saw a noticeable small dip before moods improved in the run up to Christmas and the New Year.
2011 Snapshot of Happiness
- 2011 had a slight downward happiness trend overall
- April was the happiest month of 2011. We found that this was mostly due to the royal wedding
- We are happiest between the ages of 22-31 and at 50 and over
- Work has the biggest overall effect on our mood
- Woman hate Wednesdays
- Family and friends have a positive effect on our mood
- Sickness drops our average mood to 3.3 out of 10
Looking ahead
Now we are in 2012 and January can be a hard month. The reasons given for the sudden slump are numerous. The holiday season has drawn to a close, money is tight after Christmas shopping, seasonal illness such as flu is rife, and people are heading back to work in miserable weather. Relationship issues over the holiday have also been flagged as a factor for the January drop in mood.
It is clear from these findings that national and even global events can influence our moods while sickness, relationships and work stress have a real impact on our day-to-day lives.
