If the high cost of living has been getting you down, it turns out you're more than justified in feeling blue. According to a new study, New Zealand is the seventh most expensive place to find happiness.
Researchers at Purdue University say there is a specific dollar income you need to be truly happy, depending on where you live.
Apparently, to be 100 per cent happy in Aotearoa, you need an annual income of $193,727. (Or, US$114,597 according to Purdue’s data).
Happiness remains a faraway dream for many given that the average household income in 2022 was roughly $117,126. The new league table evaluating the prosperity and wellbeing of 164 countries makes this apparent, at least.
The university examined how money and quality of life are related. The maximum income at which happiness stops increasing was calculated using a sample of 1.7 million people from throughout the world.
A new study based on data from Purdue University has created a global ranking of the cheapest and most expensive places for finding happiness.
S Money, a currency exchange company, has established a world ranking for the cost of happiness by calculating the cost of contentedness in US dollars across 164 countries. They determined an average cost of happiness for more than 500 cities by breaking things down further.
Down Under, world's third most expensive country.
Australia was deemed to be the third most expensive place in the world to find happiness, with Brisbane and Sydney both making the top 10 most expensive cities for joy. The average price of true happiness was deemed to be $205,830. This climbed to $225,511 in Brisbane, where Aussies pay the top dollar for life fulfilment.
However with the ‘happiness’ having a global average of $100-$125,000, there are plenty of places where contentment is quite cost-effective.
Sierra Leone is the cheapest country to find contentedness in the world - with life fulfilment being valued at just $14,711 a year - followed by Suriname ($17,424) and Madagascar ($19,293).
In New Zealand, Auckland was shown to be the most expensive city for happiness, costing $207,000 a year and 20th worldwide. That compares with Christchurch, the cheapest Kiwi city on the survey, where contentment costs a cheery $180,000 per annum.
While happiness is closely related to the cost of living, it can also be tied to the amount needed to be cushioned from ‘unhappiness’.
The most expensive country to live in the world is the Islamic Republic of Iran, where Iranians put the cost of happiness at US$239,700.
Meanwhile the average household income in Iran is US$3340 in cities and $1973 in rural areas according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
