Let’s work together to create a happier world

The Happier Lives Institute connects donors, researchers, and policymakers with the most cost-effective opportunities to increase global wellbeing.

Double your donation on Giving Tuesday

Our recommended charities for 2023 are:

StrongMinds, a non-profit providing cheap, effective treatment for women struggling with depression in Uganda and Zambia.

Against Malaria Foundation, which funds, and helps coordinate, the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal bednets to help prevent malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South and Central America, and Oceania.

Double your donation on Giving Tuesday<br />
Let's work together to create a happier world

Double your donation on Giving Tuesday

Our recommended charities for 2023 are:

StrongMinds, a non-profit providing cheap, effective treatment for women struggling with depression in Uganda and Zambia.

Against Malaria Foundation, which funds, and helps coordinate, the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal bednets to help prevent malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South and Central America, and Oceania.

Double your donation on Giving Tuesday<br />

Our latest news and research

HLI’s Giving Season 2023 Research Overview

In this report, we provide an overview of all our evaluations to date as well as our conclusions for Giving Season 2023. Read more

Talking through depression: The cost-effectiveness of psychotherapy in LMICs, revised and expanded

In this substantial update to our work on psychotherapy we conduct a systematic review, a meta-analysis, and cost-effectiveness analyses of two charities who deliver psychotherapy (StrongMinds and Friendship Bench). This is a working report that will be updated over time, results may change. Read more

Research Agenda 2023

We set out our research priorities. Read more

Prof Peter Singer
“It was through HLI that I became aware of StrongMinds and started donating to that remarkable organisation. Doing what we can to make everyone's lives happier is something we should all be concerned about.”
Prof Peter Singer
Founder | The Life You Can Save
Prof Peter Singer
Prof Peter Singer
Founder | The Life You Can Save
Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
“HLI is at the cutting edge of wellbeing research. They are leading the way to ensure that philanthropists and policymakers use their resources as effectively as possible to make people happier. ”

Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
Director | Wellbeing Research Centre (University of Oxford)
Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
Director | Wellbeing Research Centre (University of Oxford)
Luke Freeman
I've been very impressed with the quality of HLI's work. They help represent more diverse views, raise the standards for us all, and this greatly improves the effective giving ecosystem.

Luke Freeman
Executive Director | Giving What We Can
Luke Freeman
Luke Freeman
Executive Director | Giving What We Can

Measuring what matters

Most people agree that happiness matters.

You might think it is the only thing that matters.

Over the last 30 years, pioneering academics in economics, philosophy, and psychology have tested and developed reliable measures of happiness and life satisfaction

Today, large population surveys allow us to measure and track wellbeing across the world. We can stop relying on measures of wealth or health as our best guess for how people’s lives are going.

But what is wellbeing and how can we measure it?

You can make a difference

The cost-effective interventions we’ve identified may surprise you.

Our research shows that treating depression in low-income countries is four times more cost-effective than providing direct cash transfers.

Our research has been featured in:

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