Let’s work together to create a happier world
The Happier Lives Institute connects donors, researchers, and policymakers with the most cost-effective opportunities to increase global wellbeing.
Double your donation on Giving Tuesday
Our recommended charities for 2023 are:
StrongMinds, a non-profit providing cheap, effective treatment for women struggling with depression in Uganda and Zambia.
Against Malaria Foundation, which funds, and helps coordinate, the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal bednets to help prevent malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South and Central America, and Oceania.
Double your donation on Giving Tuesday
Our recommended charities for 2023 are:
StrongMinds, a non-profit providing cheap, effective treatment for women struggling with depression in Uganda and Zambia.
Against Malaria Foundation, which funds, and helps coordinate, the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal bednets to help prevent malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South and Central America, and Oceania.
Measuring what matters
Most people agree that happiness matters.
You might think it is the only thing that matters.
Over the last 30 years, pioneering academics in economics, philosophy, and psychology have tested and developed reliable measures of happiness and life satisfaction.
Today, large population surveys allow us to measure and track wellbeing across the world. We can stop relying on measures of wealth or health as our best guess for how people’s lives are going.
But what is wellbeing and how can we measure it?
You can make a difference
The cost-effective interventions we’ve identified may surprise you.
Our research shows that treating depression in low-income countries is nine times more cost-effective than providing direct cash transfers.
Our latest news and research
Stealing Happiness? The wellbeing cost-effectiveness of NEPI, preventing crime with cash and cognitive behavioural therapy
Explore our cost-effectiveness analysis of NEPI's innovative programme combining cash transfers and CBT to reduce crime in Liberia. With strong RCT evidence showing significant benefits to both recipients and the wider community, we estimate 22 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated. Read the report to learn how this promising intervention improves wellbeing and reduces criminality over the long term. Read more
Does improving parenting practices in childhood lead to happier adults?
The experiences we have as young children are widely recognized as having lasting impacts in later life. Supporting parents to engage with their children shows clear short-term developmental benefits and may have profound long-term effects on wellbeing, as well as health and achievement later in life. This report evaluates icddr,b's Reach Up parenting programme. Download and read the report to explore the Happier Lives Institute’s cost-effectiveness analysis, measuring the programme’s ... Read more
Toxic Cosmetics: A shallow evaluation of Pure Earth advocacy against leaded cosmetics in Ghana
There can be toxic levels of lead in all sorts of surprising products, including cosmetics. Lead exposure causes a global health burden comparable to malaria and HIV but receives less than 0.1% of their funding - even though malaria and HIV are themselves neglected diseases. Reducing lead exposure also seems feasible, given the strong historical success of advocacy campaigns. We evaluate Pure Earth’s program to reduce lead in cosmetics in Ghana, involving two years of advocacy and data ... Read more
Our research has been featured in:
Follow us on social media