Madrid – It’s not a specific Spanish question, but how much money do you have to earn to be happy? Many people assume that if you have a lot of money, you will automatically be happy. This may be true in many cases, but there are plenty of examples where this was not the case. So the question is, how much money do you have to earn to be happy?
Two Oxford University professors and Nobel laureates in economics have come up with the results of a study which they hope to provide an answer to this question. The good news is, you don’t have to be a millionaire to be happy…but you do need a fairly high salary to be happy (on paper anyway).
Despite what many people say, a good financial situation will definitely help you to be happy. Several studies are available. For example, a study showed that enough money to cover your costs is enough to achieve a state of happiness. Other studies show that you have to earn a great deal of money to be happy.
However, Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, Nobel laureates in economics and professors at Oxford University, have found an answer: the ideal salary for achieving happiness is $ 100,000 a year. That is approximately 8,333 euros per month. This salary amounts to only 0.57% of the population of Spain, according to data from the tax authorities.
Another study published earlier and conducted at Princeton University in the United States, the salary for approaching happiness was about 75 thousand euros per year, which was equivalent to a salary of 60 thousand euros per year at the time this study was published in 2010. This salary is reached by Only 4.19% of the population of Spain according to data from the tax office.
With these two figures in mind, we can conclude that the people of Spain are anything but happy. We wrote recently over here The average annual salary in Spain is 28,301€/gross, while half of the population of Spain earns an annual salary of 21,347€/gross or less. This is not close to 75,000 or 100,000 euros.
Creditea’s latest metric on life, money and happiness (September 2021) shows that 20% of Spain’s population say they need much more money than they have to to be happy. 53% admit sleep problems are due to financial problems. 90% assure that money, of course, gives peace of mind, but that money is not a priority in their life.
In addition to measuring happiness in terms of money and financial status, you can also look at other aspects such as good health, strong family ties, good social relationships, and emotional well-being. It’s just what you find most important in life.
