By Staff Writer
According to the World Happiness Reports undertaken by relevant international organisations, Iran is one of the unhappiest countries, which according to this year’s statistics (2018) ranks as the 108th in a total of 155 places. On the contrary, Finland has been titled happiest country this year (as opposed to Norway from last year).
The exacerbation of economic inequality is one of the recognised causes of mental illness in Iran.
At this point in time, approximately 40% of the villages and 30% of the cities in Iran are below the poverty line. Which makes sense because countries with the highest levels of inequality are proved to have the most economic and social problems too.
Mosafa Moeen, a professor at Tehran’s University of Medical Sciences stated on the 9th May 2018: “The statistics indicate that the disparity and injustice in our country is so severe and so serious; and as a result, our people are faced with many problems now”.
He added: “According to the Fragile State Index of 2014, Iran is amongst the most fragile countries; in other words, it is one of the most unstable, in terms of social, economic, and political factors; the inequalities between genders are also very significant, and therefore, very dangerous”.
The level of ‘happiness’ is normally relative to the level of satisfaction and confidence of people, which ultimately reflects the welfare and development of the subject country; and according to global statistics, Iran ranks very low in this regard.
The personal and social beliefs of Iranian people is inclined towards “sadness”
Gharaei Moghaddam, who is a sociologist and professor at Tehran University, emphasised on the lack of happiness in Iran: “To be very frank, Iran’s people are not happy. We must acknowledge the importance of happiness as the basis of life. Even though the people of India are poor, they are still much happier than our people”.
He also commented on the direct impact of employment on ‘social happiness’: “roughly 3.5 million of our young citizens are unemployed, and as a result, are unable to experience happiness. Besides, ‘confidence in future’ is another important factor. We have around 9 million young Iranians who are ready to get married, but don’t have a clear picture of what their future will look like…in saying that, how can they possibly be happy?”
He continued: “The authorities have announced an increase in divorce rates within the past year. The more this rate goes up, the less happy our country will get”.
He also referred to the western literature: “Western sociologists believe that if we spend even one dollar on ‘social happiness’, we can make $1000 profit in return”.
According to a research undertaken by the University of Washington D.C., the happier the individual is, the healthier he/she gets.
Moghaddam also emphasised on the dissatisfaction with the unfavourable employment conditions in Iran, as well as the accumulation of unpaid workers over the past several months; followed by a comment on the resultant happiness: “how can a man be truly happy if he can’t even provide for his wife and children?”
Given such poor circumstances and high inflations, people would of course rather cry.
The explosive social consequences of the mentioned circumstances in Iran are reflected in the recent protests and strikes across the country, which is ultimately indicative of massive changes ahead.
