Can you put a price tag on joy? Study finds Filipinos need P130,000 monthly to be happy
Can you really put a price tag on joy? A study conducted by consumer website Expensivity found that $28,264 a year or P130,000 monthly can make Filipinos happy.
"A reliable, comfortable income salves your worries and just makes life easier," the website wrote in a blog post. "Poverty is stressful and leaves long-term damage."
It added that the price of happiness differs per country, with some, like Bermuda, needing $143,933 annually or P692,000 monthly to be satisfied.
In the Philippines, the "happiness premium" figure is P130,000 per month. Meanwhile, the costs for its Southeast Asian neighbors play around the same range: P109,000 per month for Vietnam, P133,000 per month for Malaysia, P141,000 per month for Thailand, and P113,000 per month for Indonesia. Singapore has the highest figure at P222,000 monthly.
Other countries with the highest price of happiness per month include Australia (P651,000), Israel (P628,000), Switzerland (P621,000), New Zealand (P620,000), Norway (P550,000), Denmark (P525,000), Japan (P518,000), Iceland (P517,000), and the United States (P505,000)
For its findings, Expensivity used estimates from Purdue University, purchasing power ratios from the World Bank, and local cost of living to calculate the "happiness premium."
Can 'happiness' be achieved?
Recent data from the Philippine Statistics Authority found that the average annual income of Filipino families in 2023 was P353,000, or about P29,000 per month—far from the needed P130,000 to be happy.
Karin Fernandez, a positive psychology practitioner, told One News that studies done by Western countries are still different from those conducted locally.
"Important talaga ang stability para maka-provide sa ating food, shelter, basic necessities. Hindi 'yung survival mode tayo. Filipinos learn to be happy in moments of relationships. We like eating, we like praying," she said.
"Money definitely contributes to a specific point of happiness. It gives us contentment, stability, and freedom. But it only gives us temporary happiness," Fernandez continued, adding that positive relationships make Pinoys happy.
Studies on positivity psychology and wellbeing are limited in the Philippines, One News reported.