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Statistically Speaking
What Makes Women Happy? 
by Dr. Romulo A. Virola 1
Secretary General, NSCB
We certainly faced many challenges during the first 312 days of the year, but with 47 days left before Christmas, we have reasons to be happy. For the third time, the Philippines was cited as the “world’s leading global outsourcing center” when we received the Offshoring Destination of the Year Award for 2010 during the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards Night, held in London 2. Tani Gorre Cantil- Sakauye, a Pinoy, will be the first Asian and only the second woman to become Chief Justice of California – she will begin her term in January 2011 3. On Sunday, the best pound-for-pound boxer on earth, our very own Congressman Manny Pacquiao will excite and amaze us once again when he fights Margarito for his 8th title. And we are sure that in our personal lives, we received many blessings during the year, especially if we know how to count them. So let us rejoice and be happy!
Talking about happiness, we have written a few times about recent developments in measuring progress of societies that go beyond traditional metrics like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and/or Gross National Product/Income (GNP/GNI). Let us recall some of what we have written/done.
On 30 June 2007, the 2nd OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge, and Policy held in Turkey issued the Istanbul Declaration which highlighted the need to measure progress of societies beyond the conventional economic measures and on which discussion was continued during the 3rd OECD World Forum held in Busan, Korea in 2009. The emerging view in these fora is that while the GDP remains as a very useful instrument to measure economic development, there is a need for supplementary measures that more adequately capture progress of societies, including measures of happiness. More recently, the Stiglitz Commission Report, prepared by Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen et. al., for the President of France Nicholas Sarkozy, came out with essentially the same recommendations. 4
During the 10th National Convention on Statistics (NCS) held in October 2007, three months after the Istanbul Declaration, we presented a paper entitled “Measuring Progress of Societies: Gross National Product or Gross National Happiness? 5.” The paper provides a component measure of Philippine society’s progress, the Philippine Happiness Index (PHI), which can be combined with “conventional” economic indicators to improve the monitoring of the development of a nation 6. It presented estimates of the PHI using nonrandom samples. The following year, 2008 updates were generated from selected groups and presented during the 8th Western Visayas Statistical Congress held on 27-28 October 2008 in Iloilo City. Last month, during the 11th NCS, we presented a paper on Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? to assess the validity of the PHI framework with other sectors of society and presented results of the 2010 PHI. Details of the groups included in the non-random samples in 2007, 2008 and 2010 studies are provided in Table 1. 7
How do we measure happiness? 
The computation of the PHI is premised on the assumption that different individuals have different definitions and sources of happiness. The methodology for the compilation of the PHI therefore allows individuals to identify their domains of happiness.
Individuals identify their own sources of happiness from the following domains: 1) community participation and volunteer work; 2) cultural activities; 3) education; 4) family; 5) health; 6) income and financial security; 7) leisure and sports; 8) religion and/or spiritual work; 9) technological know-how; 10) work; 11) economy; 12) environment; 13) government; 14) politics; 15) friends; 16) sex life; 17) love life; 18) food; 19) peace and security; and 20) others. 8 Maybe we should be ready to add videoke/singing/dancing/sabong/ drinking/shopping? At any rate, domains not identified by the respondent will not figure in the computation of his/her happiness index 9. 
Using responses from a non-random sample, a happiness index is computed for individuals, using weights for the different domains also determined by the individuals themselves. These are then aggregated to come up with a happiness index for various groups.
One finding from our studies that corroborates what we probably already know, is that the family is definitely a very (if not the most) important source of happiness among us Pinoys. It is therefore important that we preserve the family as the social unit that can bind us together. 
While we recognize the criticisms against the use of indexes to describe social phenomena, the PHI can be used to help serve this purpose. In addition to the seminars that couples are required to undertake before they can get married, they can fill up our PHI questionnaire so they can understand each other better. They should seriously discuss their answers because if couples know and understand the sources of happiness of their partners, won’t it be easier for them to live with and adjust to each other? But if they find irreconcilable sources of incompatibility that early, they better not take the plunge. Easier said than done? We say nothing wrong with trying! Come to think of it, even married couples can fill up our questionnaires during their wedding anniversaries! If their sources and levels of happiness are converging, wow! No more need to discuss divorce laws! But the first time diverging sources and levels of happiness between two partners show up, a quick trip to marriage counselors is probably called for.
And granting for the sake of argument that it is the men who cause marital problems, then men should try to understand what makes women happy! Our PHI questionnaire will tell just that, and more!
This is what our nonrandom sample of respondents say 10
Latest 2010 results
Women find Family, Health, and Religion and/or spiritual work as the three most important sources of happiness! No compatibility problem here, as these domains are also the three most important to men. (Table 2)
Women consider as unimportant sources of happiness the following: participation in Cultural Activities, Commu
nity and volunteer work, Leisure and sports, and Technological know-how. No problem here either, as they are also unimportant to men. (Table 2). But as we did in the October 2007 Statistically Speaking article, we call on our friends from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA) to find more effective ways to encourage our kababayans to enjoy culture and to do volunteer work! We believe that the more a society appreciates culture and volunteerism, the more progressive it can be. And probably the less tax evaders there will be! Moreover, if we do not give importance to technological know how, can we compete with the knowledge-based economies?
Other important sources of happiness of women are work, food, and peace and security. But while peace and security and work are also important to men, food is only 9th most important to men compared to 5th among women. (Table 2) This might mean one of the following: that husbands have to take their wives to dinner every now and then; or that unless they can be more convincing in describing their dinner as “ang sarap, darling!”, they should learn to cook the dinner themselves. Of course it is understood that husbands should never dare compare the wife’s adobo sa embutido ni nanay!
Middling sources of happiness of women are: education, income and financial security, economy, friends, and government. (Table 2) No potential source of disagreement as same is true for men! It is just a little bothersome that education is ranked by both women and men as only 7th most important source of happiness! (Table 2) How can we rebuild our human capital?
The biggest disparity in the rankings is on 
sex life: men find it 10th most important with a rating of 8.2 (or 10th least important) but women find it 18th most important (or second least important) with a rating of 6.8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Relatedly, women find love life only 10th most important with a rating of 8.2, but men find it 6th most important with a rating of 8.7! (Table 2) This is easy to trivialize, but the unmet expectations for love and sex by either partner can surely lead to problems, and must be managed properly and professionally. In fact, this is probably one explanation for the finding that 8% of sexual violence against ever-married women were perpetrated by the husband 11! How to handle this issue is something that should challenge our psychologists, our marriage counselors, our Philippine Commission on Women, and even the marriage solemnizing officers. Makes us wonder now what policies could be formulated to address this concern!
Women and men also do not agree too much on the importance of the environment and politics. Women give slightly higher importance to the environment and to politics than men: 9th and 14th versus 12th and 17th, respectively. (Table 2) Knowing that it is probably the men who pollute the environment more than the women, this should give the environmentalists some idea how to encourage households to give greater respect for our environment. And there could be greater peace in the family if the politically-inclined wife does not discuss too much politics with the uninterested husband; or if the husband every now and then will try hard to feign interest listening to the political discourse of the wife. Indeed, living in wedded bliss can be such a challenge! But men must get used to the changing role of women in society. According to Newsweek 12, there is definitely an increasing number of women who want to run the world. In China alone, close to two-thirds of college-educated women describe themselves as very ambitious, and the figure for the Philippines may not be too far, what with the increasing labor force participation rate of our women, reduced fertility, longer life expectancy, better performance in licensure examinations, higher cohort survival rate, higher enrolment rate, etc. Threatening? Frightening? Whichever, men must learn to adjust to women, and men must know what it takes to make the women happy! Don’t ever say you were not forewarned!
Other intriguing findings
(subject to the limitations of the PHI and the nonrandom samples):
The relative importance (rank) of friends as a source of happiness has gone down from 2007 to 2008 to 2010. (Table 3)
The low-income group is not as happy as 
the other groups included in the 2010 study. (Table 4) Combining all the groups, women are less happy than men (Table 5), but among the low-income group, it is the women who are happier (Table 6)! Maybe, women can cope better with the hard life?
The level of the domain-based happiness (PHI) did not change much from 2007 to 2008 to 2010, although a very slightly decreasing pattern is observed. The level of the perception-based (using a single question) happiness also did not change much between 2007 and 2008, but dramatically went down in 2010. (Table 7)
Women and men are both least happy with Politics, Environment, Government, and Peace and security! What should politicians make out of this? (Table 5)
Among the low income group in 2010, women are happiest with their family, love life and food; while men are happiest with their sex life, love life and food! The men are not very happy with their family , however, a great mismatch with the women and a cause for concern. (Table 6)
The above sources and levels of happiness are of course not necessarily true of your partnership. To customize the PHI to your own choices and idiosyncrasies, you and your partner (only the number 1, please!) must try our happiness questionnaire, and get to know and understand each other better. Please see Annex SS11-11082010-01-01. And if, by a good chance you live happily ever after, we do not mind receiving an email!
By the way, in case you haven’t heard, Paul, the Octopus Oracle of Oberhausen is dead. With his excellent record in predicting the winner of World Cup football games, we hope the Mafia did not have him murdered!
Finally, please be reminded that historically, the strongest typhoons in the Philippines come during the fourth quarter and the deadliest come in November 13. Please take precautions like we did in preparation for Juan!
Reactions and views are welcome through email to the author at ra.virola@nscb.gov.ph
________________________
1 Secretary General of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) and Chairman of the Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC). He holds a Ph. D. in Statistics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, U.S.A. and has taught mathematics and statistics at the University of the Philippines. He is also a past president of the Philippine Statistical Association. This article was co-written by Jessamyn O. Encarnacion and Mr. Mark C. Pascasio, OIC-Director and Statistical Coordination Officer I of the NSCB, respectively. The authors thank Lina V. Castro, Noel S. Nepomuceno, Candido J. Astrologo, Jr., Cynthia S. Regalado, Ma. Libertie V. Masculino, Albert Garcia, Andrea Baylon, and Jeffrey Enrado for the assistance in the preparation of the article. The views expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSCB.
2 http://goodnewspilipinas.com/?p=13232, 2 November 2010
3 Source: http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20101104-301498, 4 November 2010.
4 See the 11th National Convention on Statistics (NCS) paper: Virola, Romulo A. and Encarnacion, Pascasio, and Clavido. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 4-5 October 2010. (http://www.nscb.gov.ph/ncs/11thNCS/papers/invited%20papers/ips23/01_Measuring%20Progress %20of%20Philippine%20Society%20What%20Makes%20the%20Poor%20Happy.pdf)
5 Virola, Romulo A. and Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. Measuring Progress of Societies: Gross National Product or Gross National Happiness? 10th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 1-2 October 2007. (http://www.nscb.gov.ph/ncs/10thNCS/papers/invited%20papers/ips-28/ips28-03.pdf)
6 Two earlier Statistically Speaking articles in August and October 2007 also featured the same subject: Virola, Romulo A. Measuring Progress of Societies: Would You Rather Be Rich or Would You Rather Be Happy? Statistically Speaking. National Statistical Coordination Board. 13 August 2007. (http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/2007/081307_rav_happiness.asp) Virola, Romulo A. How Happy Are Pinoys with Sex? Statistically Speaking. National Statistical Coordination Board. 8 October 2007. (http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/2007/100807_rav_happiness2.asp)
7 A description of the conceptual framework as well as the estimation methodology is provided in our 10th and 11th NCS papers.
8 The 2007 NCS study initially started with 15 domains/sources of happiness, i.e., domains 1-14 and Others. As a result of the test of the questionnaire, the final list for the 2007 study included three additional domains per suggestion of some respondents, i.e., domains 15-17. Domains not identified by the respondent will not figure in the computation of his/her happiness index. After the 2008 updates, the authors identified two additional domains of happiness, i.e., domains 18-19.
9 It is worth-noting that a 2009 article in the Asian-Pacific Economic Literature on Gross National Happiness by Bates, says that “Although transparent weights that emerge from an enlightened social choice process are likely to be viewed widely as having greater legitimacy than value judgements of technicians, the judgements of individuals—determined using survey techniques—could be viewed as having even greater legitimacy. In this context, it is worth noting that the National Statistical Coordination Board of the Philippines is proposing to ask individuals to identify domains of happiness from a list and assign weights to each domain in the process of deriving a happiness index (Virola and Encarnacion 2008).” Bates, Winton. Gross National Happiness. Asian Pacific Economic Literature. Volume 23, Issue 2, pages 1-16. November 2009. Bates, Winton. Gross National Happiness. Asian Pacific Economic Literature. Volume 23, Issue 2, pages 1-16. November 2009.
10 Note that all results pertain only to the responses provided by the non-random samples included in the study.
11 Virola, Romulo A. and Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. Violence against Women… At Home! Statistically Speaking. National Statistical Coordination Board. 8 March 2010. (http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/2010/030810_rav_vaw.asp)
12 Newsweek, September 6, 2010.
13 Virola, Romulo A. and Romaraog, Mark Rex R. The Devastation of Ondoy and Pepeng. Statistically Speaking. National Statistical Coordination Board. 9 November 2009. (http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/2009/110909_rav_mrsr_typhoons.asp) Virola, Romulo A. and Romaraog, Mark Rex R. Some Things You Better Know About Typhoons in the Philippines! Statistically Speaking. National Statistical Coordination Board. 11 August 2008. (http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/2008/081408_rav_typhoons.asp)
Table 1. Non-random samples included in the studies, by group: 2007, 2008, and 2010
| NCS/NSM Opening | NSM Opening | Government Agency A | Government Agency B | Low-Income families | Private Agency | University students | Professional association | |
| 2007 | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
| 2008 | √ | √ | √ | |||||
| 2010 | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Sources:
Virola, Romulo A. and Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. Measuring Progress of Societies: Gross National Product or Gross National Happiness? 10th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 1-2 October 2007.
Virola, Romulo A. and Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. The Philippine Happiness Index: What Makes Pinoys Happy? How Happy Are We? 8th Western Visayas Statistical Congress. National Statistical Coordination Board Regional Division VI. 27-28 October 2008.
Virola, Romulo A., et. al. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 4-5 October 2010.
Table 2. Weighted Level of Importance by Domain of Happiness,
by Sex: August 2010
| Low Income/Government Agency A/ Government Agency B/Private Agency a/ |
||||||
| 2010 | ||||||
| Both sexes | Women | Men | ||||
| Average importance | Rank | Average importance | Rank | Average importance | Rank | |
| Number of respondents | 356 | 149 | 207 | |||
| Source/Domain | ||||||
Family |
9.54 |
1 | 9.81 |
1 | 9.31 | 1 |
Health |
9.19 |
2 | 9.41 |
2 | 9.01 | 2 |
Religion and/or spiritual work |
8.95 |
3 | 9.07 |
3 | 8.86 | 3 |
Work |
8.83 |
4 | 8.92 |
4 | 8.76 | 5 |
Peace and security b/ |
8.81 |
5 | 8.79 |
6 | 8.82 | 4 |
Food b/ |
8.59 |
6 | 8.90 |
5 | 8.31 | 9 |
Education |
8.50 |
7 | 8.64 |
7 | 8.38 | 7 |
Love life |
8.47 |
8 | 8.21 |
10 | 8.68 | 6 |
Income and financial security |
8.45 |
9 | 8.61 |
8 | 8.32 | 8 |
Environment |
8.31 |
10 | 8.47 |
9 | 8.16 | 12 |
Economy |
8.14 |
11 | 8.11 |
11 | 8.17 | 11 |
Friends |
7.97 |
12 | 8.09 |
12 | 7.86 | 13 |
Government |
7.79 |
13 | 7.93 |
13 | 7.65 | 14 |
Sex life |
7.64 |
14 | 6.77 |
18 | 8.18 | 10 |
Politics |
7.59 |
15 | 7.93 |
14 | 7.25 | 17 |
Technological know-how |
7.43 |
16 | 7.41 |
15 | 7.45 | 16 |
Leisure and sports |
7.23 |
17 | 6.86 |
16 | 7.54 | 15 |
Community and volunteer work |
6.93 |
18 | 6.82 |
17 | 7.02 | 18 |
Cultural activities |
6.35 |
19 | 6.03 |
19 | 6.64 | 19 |
Others |
8.75 |
9.00 |
8.67 | |||
Source: Virola, Romulo A., et. al. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 4-5 October 2010.
Notes:
a/ - Nonrandom respondents from Taguig City, Cavite, and Makati City, Government Agency A, Government Agency B, Private Agency.
b/ - Not included in the 2007 and 2008 questionnaires. Per suggestions and comments from some of the respondents, these items were added from the list of possible sources/domains of happiness.
Table 3. Level of Importance by Domain, Subgroup, and Sex:
2007, 2008, 2010
| 2007 1/ | 2008 2/ | 2010 3/ | ||||
| Average importance | Rank | Average importance | Rank | Average importance | Rank | |
| Number of respondents | 651 | 157 | 356 | |||
| Source/Domain | ||||||
| Family | 8.65 | 1 | 8.72 | 1 | 9.58 | 1 |
| Health | 8.18 | 2 | 8.26 | 2 | 9.19 | 2 |
| Education | 8.01 | 3 | 7.64 | 7 | 8.50 | 7 |
| Friends | 7.89 | 4 | 7.28 | 8 | 7.97 | 12 |
| Religion and/or spiritual work | 7.55 | 6 | 7.88 | 4 | 8.95 | 3 |
| Income and financial security | 7.59 | 5 | 8.09 | 3 | 8.45 | 9 |
| Love life | 7.19 | 7 | 7.76 | 5 | 8.47 | 8 |
| Economy | 6.53 | 10 | 6.43 | 12 | 8.14 | 11 |
| Environment | 6.64 | 8 | 6.53 | 9 | 8.31 | 10 |
| Work | 6.55 | 9 | 7.65 | 6 | 8.83 | 4 |
| Technological know-how | 6.53 | 11 | 6.51 | 11 | 7.43 | 16 |
| Leisure and sports | 6.41 | 12 | 6.10 | 14 | 7.23 | 17 |
| Community and volunteer work | 6.07 | 13 | 5.77 | 15 | 6.93 | 18 |
| Government | 5.64 | 16 | 6.21 | 13 | 7.79 | 13 |
| Cultural activities | 5.81 | 15 | 5.52 | 16 | 6.35 | 19 |
| Politics | 5.44 | 17 | 5.48 | 17 | 7.59 | 15 |
| Sex life | 6.00 | 14 | 6.53 | 10 | 7.64 | 14 |
| Food a/ | 8.59 | 6 | ||||
| Peace and security a/ | 8.81 | 5 | ||||
| Others | 4.30 | 9.00 | 8.75 | |||
Sources:
1/ - Virola, Romulo A. And Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: Gross National Product or Gross National Happiness? National Statistical Coordination Board. October 2007.
2/ - Virola, Romulo A. and Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. The Philippine Happiness Index: What Makes Pinoys Happy? How Happy Are We? 8th Western Visayas Statistical Congress. National Statistical Coordination Board Regional Division VI. 27-28 October 2008.
3/ - Virola, Romulo A., et. al. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. October 2010.
Notes:
a/ Not included in the 2007 and 2008 questionnaires. Per suggestions and comments from some of the respondents, these items were added from the list of possible sources/domains of happiness.
| Low Income a/ | Government Agency A b/ | Government Agency B c/ | Private Agency d/ | |
| General assessment e/ | 56.8 | 71.5 | 77.6 | 65.8 |
| Overall PHI f/ | 57.8 | 69.9 | 80.1 | 65.4 |
Source: Virola, Romulo A., et. al. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 4-5 October 2010.
Notes:
a/ Nonrandom respondents from Taguig City, Cavite, and Makati City.
b/ Nonrandom respondents from Government Agency A.
c/ Nonrandom respondents from Government Agency B.
d/ Nonrandom respondents from Private Agency.
e/ Based on a single question (perception-based).
f/ Computed through the domains of happiness of an individual.
Table 5. Weighted Levels of Happiness by Domain, by Sex:
August 2010
| Low Income/Government Agency A/Government Agency B/Private Agency a/ | ||||||
| Both sexes | Women | Men | ||||
| Index | Rank | Index | Rank | Index | Rank | |
| General Assessment | 47.7 | 51.8 | 44.2 | |||
| Overall (based on domains) | 66.2 | 62.8 | 69.2 | |||
| Source/Domain | ||||||
| Education | 75.68 | 1 | 72.09 | 1 | 78.83 | 1 |
| Love life | 73.91 | 2 | 71.76 | 2 | 75.51 | 3 |
| Friends | 73.45 | 3 | 68.25 | 4 | 78.23 | 2 |
| Family | 70.6 | 4 | 71.03 | 3 | 70.22 | 6 |
| Work | 67.89 | 5 | 68.05 | 5 | 67.75 | 8 |
| Leisure and sports | 67.48 | 6 | 59.04 | 7 | 74.19 | 4 |
| Cultural activities | 66.14 | 7 | 60.04 | 6 | 71.12 | 5 |
| Technological know-how | 61.53 | 8 | 53.03 | 10 | 68.66 | 7 |
| Health | 58.84 | 9 | 53.81 | 9 | 63.25 | 10 |
| Sex life | 58.07 | 10 | 52.59 | 11 | 60.85 | 11 |
| Income and financial security | 56.72 | 11 | 52.39 | 12 | 60.49 | 12 |
| Religion and/or spiritual work | 56.56 | 12 | 47.95 | 13 | 64.13 | 9 |
| Food b/ | 53.18 | 13 | 54.58 | 8 | 51.86 | 14 |
| Economy | 49.82 | 14 | 45.34 | 15 | 54.26 | 13 |
| Community and volunteer work | 49.37 | 15 | 47.62 | 14 | 50.82 | 15 |
| Peace and security b/ | 42.19 | 16 | 41.79 | 16 | 42.54 | 16 |
| Government | 29.19 | 17 | 33.51 | 17 | 25 | 18 |
| Environment | 28.73 | 18 | 28.31 | 18 | 29.13 | 17 |
| Politics | 6.02 | 19 | 7.54 | 19 | 4.39 | 19 |
| Others | - | - | - | |||
| Happiness Index based on: | ||||||
| Internal factors c/ | 63.53 | 59.45 | 66.85 | |||
| External factors d/ | 31.19 | 31.3 | 31.06 | |||
Source: Virola, Romulo A., et. al. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 4-5 October 2010.
Notes:
a/ Nonrandom respondents from Taguig City, Cavite, Makati City, Government Agency A, Government Agency B, and Private Agency.
b/ Not included in the 2007 and 2008 questionnaires. Per suggestions and comments from some of the respondents, these items were added from the list of possible sources/domains of happiness.
c/ - Internal factors include domains perceived to be more controlled by the individual, namely: community and volunteer work, cultural activities, education, family, health, income and financial security, leisure and sports, religion and spiritual work, technological know-how, work, food, lovelife, sex life, friends
d/ - External factors include domains perceived to be not controlled much by the individual, namely: economy, environment, government, politics, peace and security
| Low Income a/ | ||||
| Women | Men | |||
| Index | Rank | Index | Rank | |
| General Assessment | 57.6 | 55.8 | ||
| Overall PHI | 59.1 | 56.1 | ||
| Source/Domain | ||||
| Sex life | 63.17 | 7 | 64.37 | 1 |
| Love life | 67.76 | 2 | 64.25 | 2 |
| Food b/ | 67.41 | 3 | 62.33 | 3 |
| Health | 64.87 | 5 | 61.27 | 4 |
| Religion and/or spiritual work | 64.59 | 6 | 60.75 | 5 |
| Friends | 65.29 | 4 | 59.91 | 6 |
| Technological know-how | 62.00 | 8 | 59.62 | 7 |
| Education | 61.47 | 9 | 59.14 | 8 |
| Leisure and sports | 57.12 | 10 | 58.72 | 9 |
| Family | 72.77 | 1 | 58.61 | 10 |
| Work | 56.42 | 12 | 57.25 | 11 |
| Income and financial security | 56.49 | 11 | 52.88 | 12 |
| Community and volunteer work | 54.55 | 13 | 52.74 | 13 |
| Cultural activities | 54.19 | 14 | 51.93 | 14 |
| Peace and security b/ | 53.01 | 15 | 51.78 | 15 |
| Economy | 48.61 | 16 | 46.17 | 16 |
| Environment | 45.70 | 17 | 37.00 | 17 |
| Government | 40.21 | 18 | 33.94 | 18 |
| Politics | 33.63 | 19 | 30.42 | 19 |
| Others | 50.00 | |||
| Happiness Index based on: | ||||
| Internal factors c/ | 62.01 | 58.84 | ||
| External factors d/ | 44.23 | 39.86 | ||
Source: Virola, Romulo A., et. al. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. 4-5 October 2010.
Notes:
a/ Nonrandom respondents from Taguig City, Cavite, and Makati City.
b/ Not included in the 2007 and 2008 questionnaires. Per suggestions and comments from some of the respondents, these items were added from the list of possible sources/domains of happiness.
c/ - Internal factors include domains perceived to be more controlled by the individual, namely: community and volunteer work, cultural activities, education, family, health, income and financial security, leisure and sports, religion and spiritual work, technological know-how, work, food, lovelife, sex life, friends
d/ - External factors include domains perceived to be not controlled much by the individual, namely: economy, environment, government, politics, peace and security
| 2007 1/ | 2008 2/ | 2010 3/ | |
| General assessment a/ | 69.44 | 70.89 | 47.40 |
| Overall PHI b/ | 67.48 | 67.24 | 66.20 |
Sources:
1/ - Virola, Romulo A. And Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: Gross National Product or Gross National Happiness? National Statistical Coordination Board. October 2007.
2/ - Virola, Romulo A. and Encarnacion, Jessamyn O. The Philippine Happiness Index: What Makes Pinoys Happy? How Happy Are We? 8th Western Visayas Statistical Congress. National Statistical Coordination Board Regional Division VI. 27-28 October 2008.
3/ - Virola, Romulo A., et. al. Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: What Makes the Poor Happy? 11th National Convention on Statistics. National Statistical Coordination Board. October 2010.
Notes:
a/ Based on a single question (perception-based).
b/ Computed through the domains of happiness of an individual.
Posted: 08 November 2010
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