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.
Using the latest subjective wellbeing data, we identify the problems that matter most to people and find evidence-based ways to solve them.
The Happier Lives Institute connects donors, researchers, and policymakers with the most cost-effective opportunities to increase global wellbeing.
Using the latest subjective wellbeing data, we identify the problems that matter most to people and find evidence-based ways to solve them.
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 latest news and research
Celebrating Five Years of the Happier Lives Institute: Five Lessons We’ve Learned
To my surprise and delight, the Happier Lives Institute (HLI) is now five years old. When we started on this ambitious, idealistic project of finding and sharing the most impactful, evidence-based ways to improve happiness for others, I would have been delighted to last one year, let alone five. To celebrate, I’m sharing five lessons from our journey so far. Read more
Site visit to StongMinds: Kampala, Uganda
Dr Michael Plant conducted an in-person site visit to better understand the StrongMinds programme and the people in it. We don’t expect site visits can, or should, be decisive for evaluation purposes (they are ‘anecdata’), but they can nevertheless be informative. Visitor: Dr Michael Plant, Founder & Research Director at the Happier Lives Institute Date of visit: 11 April 2024 Document written: 19 April 2024 Read more
Site visit to Friendship Bench: Harare, Zimbabwe
Dr Michael Plant conducted an in-person site visit to better understand the Friendship Bench programme and the people in it. We don’t expect site visits can, or should, be decisive for evaluation purposes (they are ‘anecdata’), but they can nevertheless be informative. Visitor: Dr Michael Plant, Founder & Research Director at the Happier Lives Institute Date of visit: 04 April 2024 Document written: 10 April 2024 Read more
