The exact sum of money you need to earn to be happy in Australia is as eye-watering as it is unsurprising: $176,500 per year.
That’s according to financial education website Expensivity, which built upon research about the cost of happiness around the world and then factored in things like cost of living and purchasing power.
“A reliable, comfortable income salves your worries and just makes life easier,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“Poverty is stressful and leaves long-term damage. ”
If you reckon the Aussie figure seems pretty high, you’d be right. We’re right up there as the second-most expensive place to be happy on the list, just after the tiny Caribbean island/tax haven of Bermuda.
Here’s how the top five countries on the list round out, with the figures converted to Australian dollars:
- Bermuda – $187,000 per year
- Australia – $176,500 per year
- Israel – $170,100 per year
- Switzerland – $168,200 per year
- New Zealand – $168,000 per year
“Australia, New Zealand, and Japan each have six-figure price tags on happiness, and their neighboring countries are closest behind them,” the report said.
It’s a surprise to no-one that Australia is expensive as fuck, but being the second-most expensive place to be happy in the whole world is a decidedly unhappy fact to learn.
On the other end of the spectrum are countries where the annual income needed to be happy is only a fraction of the figure over here.
Here are the countries where you need to earn the least in order to be happy, once again converted to Aussie dollars:
- Suriname – $8,900 per year
- Argentina – $11,500 per year
- Angola – $11,600 per year
- Kyrgyzstan – $11,700 per year
- Iran – $13,200 per year
But back to Australia, where apparently only boomers on six-figure salaries can afford the general concept of happiness.
Some might call it a grim reflection of a society which is pricing young people out of life itself, while others might point out that their methodology has apparently ignored the simple pleasure of downing a cold beer at the pub during happy hour.
So either get on with your life ignoring this bit of research, or else you better work, bitch.
That smashed avo on toast isn’t gonna pay for itself.
