Undeserved Unhappiness: A Comparison of Philippines and Japan

The social relevance of happiness surveys is that they also tell us about unhappiness. To the extent that such unhappiness is due to different forms of economic deprivation, such as hunger or poverty, is socially undeserved. Tracking undeserved unhappiness contributes to the advocacy for alleviating poverty, as well as to the understanding of conditions for happiness.

Social Weather Stations (SWS) has a total of 19 national happiness survey, one in 1991 and 18 in 2000-2011. These surveys found that extreme unhappiness was most felt among households suffering severe hunger, and among household considering themselves as poor. The excess unhappiness associated with hunger and poverty is the undeserved unhappiness.

SWS’ participation in the 2010 and 2012 rounds of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) provided data comparing Filipino happiness with that of 47 other member countries, including Japan.

This paper will compare happiness in Philippines and Japan, and the extent of underserved unhappiness connected with various indicators of well-being and economic deprivation, such as subjective social class, self-assessed health, access to health care, family roles, and social policies related to work.