Sheikh Mohammed announces World Happiness Council

A new council has been created to promote happiness, led by a professor from Columbia University.

DUBAI // The world desperately needs to adopt a new approach to achieve human happiness, the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai has said.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said the approach must be based on cooperation and searching for ponits of agreement, speaking to mark the creation of what was described as the first World Happiness Council.

The announcement came ahead of International Happiness Day, which falls on March 20 each year.

“The increased challenges, and the acceleration of international transformations and changes, requires decision makers to adopt policies and approaches that open the windows of hope to people”, said Sheikh Mohammed.

The council will be headed by Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University in the US, and will include 12 other members, Sheikh Mohammed said. It aims to support international goals to standardise happiness as a measure of development.

“Happiness is a good contagion, and we want the peoples of the world to be affected by it, to enjoy its goodness,” said Sheikh Mohammed.

“This requires a tangible change in the culture of government work. We want an actual translation of the goals of international organisations that all share a general goal, represented in strengthening positivity, and maintaining a more sustainable world, and achieving goodness for the human.”