WEALTHY? HEALTHY? HAPPY?
Does economic growth make us healthier? If so, richer nations should be healthier than poorer ones. The World Health Organisation publishes data comparing the health of the world’s nations. The measure they use is healthy life expectancy - the number of years to be lived in the equivalent of full health calculated by subtracting years of ill-health from the overall life expectancy.
What are the findings? Within poorer countries there’s a clear relationship between health and GDP. But among the developed nations there is no such correlation. Above a GDP per capita of US$13,000, increasing wealth brings no further health benefit. Australia ranks second in healthy life expectancy whereas the US, whose citizens are 50% richer, only come in seventeenth. Spaniards live two more healthy years than Germans, although Germans are nearly twice as well off. The message is that if a country is already relatively rich, getting richer does nothing to improve the health of its people.
If the very rich are no healthier, maybe they’re happier. A Dutch researcher developed an ‘Appreciation of Life’ rating. She found a similar pattern to the wealth/health relationship. Nations with a GDP lower than $13,000 have lower Appreciation of Life ratings than wealthier nations. But within the wealthier nations happiness is not connected to wealth. Australia and Switzerland rank equal sixth although Switzerland is twice as rich. Luxembourg, the richest country in the world is twelfth happiest. The country with the happiest citizens was the Netherlands, whose GDP is about halfway between the poorest and richest countries.
Once basic needs are met, the satisfaction that wealth provides is relative. Bigger houses and cars are valued not for their use but for their status. But status is relative. If I have a Jaguar, the extra prestige I acquire is at the expense of the people who own lesser vehicles. It’s a mug’s game.
The lesson in all this? Australia is one of the lucky countries. We’re about mid-range in terms of wealth. We have one of the highest healthy life expectancy ratings. We’re in the top ten for happiness. If the studies are right, greater wealth won’t make us happier or healthier. We’re already there, relative to other countries. (However, I don’t believe the research took into account Australia’s indigenous communities). We might as well share our wealth. The Bank of Bendigo has an Ethical Investment Account that lets you give all or half of your interest to Community Aid Abroad. You can probably be just as happy and healthy without that 5%. If you have enough money to earn interest, maybe you have enough to share around.