Heavy Happiness [2016]
Berlin | Germany
Medium: Data Visualization.
Helium Balloons Installation.
“happiness is a better measure of human welfare than standard indicators like per capita income.” World Happiness Report 2016.
Calculation source: Worldometers
The World Happiness Report 2016, Update (Vol. I) ranks 156 countries by their level of happiness and calculates the values for each country by asking people to evaluate their quality lives on a scale from 0 to 10 over the years 2013-2015. The average score answer is divided into 7 segments: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perception of corruption and dystopia (average life evaluation =2.33), and residual (added value: each country’s prediction error).
“Heavy Happiness” visualizes the data of 10 highly populated countries. The volume of each balloon represents the population of the respective country, and the colored cables holding the balloons explain the scores, which are divided into the 7 segments mentioned above.
Happiness is a good measure of social progress and the goal of public policy. To live a sustainable and happy life is to build a society and culture that prioritize individual well-being over economic growth.
