Translation
Original language
06.11.2025
Happiness index: ways to improve wellbeing of the population.
INVESTMENTS IN HUMAN CAPITAL
Happiness index: ways to improve wellbeing of the population.
When was the last time we experienced true happiness and what makes us truly happy?
Happiness is the state of harmony and joy, when we feel satisfaction with life and unity with the world.
In my essay I will try to answer the question of where to find this happiness and how it can be connected with economic progress.
After a hard day full of worries and difficulties, we strive to disconnect from sufferings and worries and to get rid of constant tension and stress. One way to achieve this is by listening to the sounds of nature.
This subconscious desire to fall asleep to the sound of rain or wash of the sea has scientific basis behind it. According to research published in Scientific Reports magazine in March 2017, nature sounds physically alter connections in our brains, thus, reducing the natural fight or flight instinct. They give us sense of calmness and peace.
We live in constant stress. According to VTsIOM study conducted in 2024, approximately one third of Russians experience stress rarely or sometimes (34% and 37%, respectively), 13% — often, and 6%, by their own estimates, live in constant stress. In total, 9 out of 10 (90%) of our fellow citizens experience stress with varying frequency, which corresponds to the figures from five years ago (2019 — 91%) and is slightly lower than 14 years ago (96%). At the same time, the share of those experiencing stress regularly (constantly and frequently) returned to the 2010 level: today, this is every fifth person (19%, 2010 — 18%), and in 2019 — every fourth person (25%). Another 8% today, apparently, are maximally protected from stress and never experience it (2010 — 3%).
According to the same study, to combat stress, our compatriots increase their physical activity, go out into nature, spend more time with family, find new hobbies, and meditate.
What if I tell you that we can afford to live without stress, spend a lot of time with family, be constantly physically active, and even in nature, and even be of benefit to our country?
For this we just need to remember our parents and grandparents. To remember how we came to visit them in the village and how comfortable we felt there.
Did our grandparents need psychologists? Did they experience stress from unpredictability of work or from lack of communication with their loved ones? Or maybe someone said that they wouldn’t be able to feed a second child? Not at all! They always knew what tomorrow would bring. They knew that in summer there would be haymaking and in winter there would be firewood harvesting. They knew that there were supplies for the winter in the cellar, and that there was always milk and cottage cheese in their refrigerators. They had enough physical activity, their daily routine was always planned in detail, and they looked boldly to the future. Will you lure to the city those who still stay in the villages and have their own farms and powers to manage them? You will not, because they are happy where they are.
Unfortunately, in Russia, and not only there, villages are dying out. According to the census, in 2021, there were 153 157 rural settlements in Russia, in 24 751 of which there were no residents, which is approximately 16.2%. Another 23.5 thousand villages and hamlets have population of 6 or less residents, and many of them are populated by elderly people. There are 6 to 10 residents in 11.7 thousand of such settlements.
But we must preserve the villages and towns that we have, and we must create new ones. This is necessary for us to:
• Preserve cultural heritage
• Develop agriculture
• Maintain food security
• Improve quality of life of citizens
• Maintain natural balance
Many people think about the village in stereotypes. Many people still think that living in a village means not having any of the benefits of civilization. But it is not so. A modern village has high-speed Internet, modern technology, and comfortable houses.
Modern technologies allow us to work from anywhere in the world, so why do not we work from a place, where we are happy, where our family and our loved ones are happy?
It shall be mentioned that according to data from NAFI analytical center, 87% of urban youth are willing to consider shifting to the countryside, if they can live and work there comfortably.
The task of the state is to ensure this comfort. These are vast expenses, but they will pay off. As a result, the state will receive following:
• Elimination of the dependency on food imports
• Development of infrastructure and economy
• Reduced demographic tension
• Healthy and happy citizens
What should we do to revive the village?
We shall provide people with comfortable housing, modern technologies for work in agriculture, medicine, and schools.
I offer to conduct a pilot project in my native village of Poddorye in the Novgorod Region. At present, the village has everything for comfortable life of those who want, but are still afraid to change their lives. The village has well developed sports, Internet, a hospital, and a school. It is only necessary to build comfortable modern houses.
In future, experience of comfortable rural environment creation can be used to resettle city dwellers. This could be one of the ways to reduce the load on modern megacities of BRICS+ countries.
Links to resources:
https://nafi.ru/analytics/87-gorodskoy-molodezhi-gotovy-rassmotret-pereezd-v-selskuyu-mestnost-esli-smogut-tam-komfortno-zhit-/?ysclid=m84n4wqii4450108311
https://m.ok.ru/group/61373762502778/topic/154622366492026
https://dzen.ru/a/Y9jnjc4ZVyijzkic
https://wciom.ru/analytical-reviews/analiticheskii-obzor/upravlenie-stressom
https://finance.rambler.ru/economics/52094243-vtsiom-tret-molodyh-rossiyan-zadumyvayutsya-o-zhizni-i-biznese-v-sele/
Essay prepared by
Alexander Nikolaevich Vasilev
11.03.2025.
Happiness index: ways to improve wellbeing of the population.
When was the last time we experienced true happiness and what makes us truly happy?
Happiness is the state of harmony and joy, when we feel satisfaction with life and unity with the world.
In my essay I will try to answer the question of where to find this happiness and how it can be connected with economic progress.
After a hard day full of worries and difficulties, we strive to disconnect from sufferings and worries and to get rid of constant tension and stress. One way to achieve this is by listening to the sounds of nature.
This subconscious desire to fall asleep to the sound of rain or wash of the sea has scientific basis behind it. According to research published in Scientific Reports magazine in March 2017, nature sounds physically alter connections in our brains, thus, reducing the natural fight or flight instinct. They give us sense of calmness and peace.
We live in constant stress. According to VTsIOM study conducted in 2024, approximately one third of Russians experience stress rarely or sometimes (34% and 37%, respectively), 13% — often, and 6%, by their own estimates, live in constant stress. In total, 9 out of 10 (90%) of our fellow citizens experience stress with varying frequency, which corresponds to the figures from five years ago (2019 — 91%) and is slightly lower than 14 years ago (96%). At the same time, the share of those experiencing stress regularly (constantly and frequently) returned to the 2010 level: today, this is every fifth person (19%, 2010 — 18%), and in 2019 — every fourth person (25%). Another 8% today, apparently, are maximally protected from stress and never experience it (2010 — 3%).
According to the same study, to combat stress, our compatriots increase their physical activity, go out into nature, spend more time with family, find new hobbies, and meditate.
What if I tell you that we can afford to live without stress, spend a lot of time with family, be constantly physically active, and even in nature, and even be of benefit to our country?
For this we just need to remember our parents and grandparents. To remember how we came to visit them in the village and how comfortable we felt there.
Did our grandparents need psychologists? Did they experience stress from unpredictability of work or from lack of communication with their loved ones? Or maybe someone said that they wouldn’t be able to feed a second child? Not at all! They always knew what tomorrow would bring. They knew that in summer there would be haymaking and in winter there would be firewood harvesting. They knew that there were supplies for the winter in the cellar, and that there was always milk and cottage cheese in their refrigerators. They had enough physical activity, their daily routine was always planned in detail, and they looked boldly to the future. Will you lure to the city those who still stay in the villages and have their own farms and powers to manage them? You will not, because they are happy where they are.
Unfortunately, in Russia, and not only there, villages are dying out. According to the census, in 2021, there were 153 157 rural settlements in Russia, in 24 751 of which there were no residents, which is approximately 16.2%. Another 23.5 thousand villages and hamlets have population of 6 or less residents, and many of them are populated by elderly people. There are 6 to 10 residents in 11.7 thousand of such settlements.
But we must preserve the villages and towns that we have, and we must create new ones. This is necessary for us to:
• Preserve cultural heritage
• Develop agriculture
• Maintain food security
• Improve quality of life of citizens
• Maintain natural balance
Many people think about the village in stereotypes. Many people still think that living in a village means not having any of the benefits of civilization. But it is not so. A modern village has high-speed Internet, modern technology, and comfortable houses.
Modern technologies allow us to work from anywhere in the world, so why do not we work from a place, where we are happy, where our family and our loved ones are happy?
It shall be mentioned that according to data from NAFI analytical center, 87% of urban youth are willing to consider shifting to the countryside, if they can live and work there comfortably.
The task of the state is to ensure this comfort. These are vast expenses, but they will pay off. As a result, the state will receive following:
• Elimination of the dependency on food imports
• Development of infrastructure and economy
• Reduced demographic tension
• Healthy and happy citizens
What should we do to revive the village?
We shall provide people with comfortable housing, modern technologies for work in agriculture, medicine, and schools.
I offer to conduct a pilot project in my native village of Poddorye in the Novgorod Region. At present, the village has everything for comfortable life of those who want, but are still afraid to change their lives. The village has well developed sports, Internet, a hospital, and a school. It is only necessary to build comfortable modern houses.
In future, experience of comfortable rural environment creation can be used to resettle city dwellers. This could be one of the ways to reduce the load on modern megacities of BRICS+ countries.
Links to resources:
https://nafi.ru/analytics/87-gorodskoy-molodezhi-gotovy-rassmotret-pereezd-v-selskuyu-mestnost-esli-smogut-tam-komfortno-zhit-/?ysclid=m84n4wqii4450108311
https://m.ok.ru/group/61373762502778/topic/154622366492026
https://dzen.ru/a/Y9jnjc4ZVyijzkic
https://wciom.ru/analytical-reviews/analiticheskii-obzor/upravlenie-stressom
https://finance.rambler.ru/economics/52094243-vtsiom-tret-molodyh-rossiyan-zadumyvayutsya-o-zhizni-i-biznese-v-sele/
Essay prepared by
Alexander Nikolaevich Vasilev
11.03.2025.
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