Vijayawada: AP ranked 74 globally with a happiness score of 5.368 while India stood in the 122nd position among 155 nations in the World Happiness Report, 2017.
Andhra Pradesh had signed an MoU with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), that measures global happiness based on self-evaluations in life. Andhra Pradesh is the only state among the countries that is linked with SDSN and has followed the global methodology to assess happiness levels within the state. The first World Happiness Report was published in April 2012 in support of the UN High-Level Meeting on happiness and well-being.
The newborn state of Andhra Pradesh is implementing the best practices and is participating in global competitive affairs. In general, only nations participate in this but Andhra Pradesh has signed an MoU with the global reports agencies and is trying to analyse the state’s position by providing the necessary information.
In the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) for 2015-2016, AP stood in the 51st position among 140 economies while in 2016-2017 it got 36th rank. In the World Happiness Report, AP bagged the 74th rank in 2017. The state government had mentioned this achievement in the Vision 2029 document and presented it at the Collectors’ conference.
According to the report, SDSN used the effective responses of 16,159 individuals for evaluation. The key indicators to explain happiness are GDP, generosity, social support, corruption in business, corruption in the government, freedom to make life choices etc.
The global rankings are decided based on a population-based sample survey of 1,000 persons per country. But the state of Andhra Pradesh has used an effective sample of 16,159 persons for the analysis, a Planning Commission member said. The member said that the sample size has been ascertained after deletion of incomplete responses and duplicate entries.
He further shared that the male and female responses were almost equal, thereby proportionate to the state’s sex ratio. Under conditions of anonymity, he said that levels of happiness in Andhra Pradesh can be assessed using the same parameters that would enable the state to compare itself with the country’s average and other international rankings.
When contacted, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development minister Nara Lokesh shared from Davos that happiness of Andhra Pradesh people is the supreme goal of the government and people’s well-being and happiness will top the state’s efforts. He further shared that the Andhra Pradesh government aims to be among the top three states in the country by the year 2022 and the most developed state by the year 2029.
