Why was 1978 the best year ever?
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Why was 1978 the best year ever?
Is it just me or does everyone wonder if it really was the good old days?
I don’t usually buy into that sort of talk, I am in my 50th year and I haven’t had a bad one yet but scientists have done the sums and apparently 1978 was the greatest year in the history of the world.
Until recently we calculated human happiness based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the wealthier we got, the happier we were assumed to be.
In 2013 Australian National University in Canberra invented the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI).
GPI starts using GDP but then calculates 24 other categories including crime rate, pollution, loss of habitat, road toll and even the amount of people who volunteer and enjoy housework to give a country its rating.
The study analysed data collected between 1950 and 2003 and followed 17 countries – equating to half the world’s population.
GPI peaked in 1978 and has tapered off ever since. We have never been as happy as we were wearing flares.
It’s slightly flawed because we know people in developing countries are enjoying a better quality of life these days. In the past 20 years alone world poverty has fallen by 42 per cent and life expectancy continues to rise, so there is a lot to be happy about in 2018.
But what was better about 1978? Women had burned the bra and that meant they could work if they wanted to but it was affordable to be a stay-at-home mum too. Unemployment was low, which meant you either left school for an apprenticeship or stayed on for a place at university. When you got your degree, you found a job immediately and you were debt free. Housing was affordable and because there were less nifty gadgets to buy, less travel and less brand awareness, money wasn’t spread quite so thin. People felt more certain about their future. Jobs were often for life and the pension was waiting.
We didn’t have wealth, we had well-being.
This week Finland was named the happiest country in the world. It’s not a rich country, the weather is questionable and they are among the highest taxed nations globally.
They also have universal health care, education is free and considered the most effective system in the world, their government is ranked the most stable and least corrupt, Finland is considered the safest country worldwide, its police force is the most trusted and its banks are the soundest.
Australia is not too shabby, we are 10th happiest apparently, but I think we need to accept that more money is not the ultimate goal.
Instead, we simply want to feel safe in a home we can afford, optimistic about the future and we wouldn’t mind rice-a-riso for tea and an episode of The Sullivans before bed.
Caroline xx
