Similar explorations of officially finding happiness have been pushed by other governments. Both Japan and South Korea include the right to happiness in their constitutions, and earlier this month, the British government detailed plans to begin a $3 million project to measure citizens’ well being.
In the early 1970s, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan pioneered the idea of maintaining a “happiness index.” Well before that, the 1776 U.S. Declaration of Independence made its often-noted stand for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
The bill before Brazil’s Congress would insert the phrase “pursuit of happiness” into Article 6 of the constitution, which states that education, health, food, work, housing, leisure and security — among other issues — are the social rights of all citizens.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member