Release Issued by HP:
Study Reveals Love is What Makes Britons Happy
LONDON – An independent research released today has revealed Britons think that romantic love is the single best way to achieve happiness.
The research(1) features responses from over 1,000 Britons and was published to mark the launch of the ‘SnapHappy’ initiative by Snapfish, a leading online photo site and service by HP.
Snapfish is calling on Britons to upload photos of what makes them happy to celebrate the diverse sources of British happiness and raise money for NCH, the children’s charity. For every photo of happiness uploaded to www.snapfish.co.uk/snaphappy, £1 will be donated to NCH, the children’s charity. (2)
TV personalities including Bob Holness, Sky presenter Kay Burley and actress Fay Ripley have already uploaded their happy photos for public viewing.
Happiness Study Summary
Most Britons believe laughter is best for a happiness quick fix (69.8 percent), beating shopping (11.9 percent) and exercise (4 percent). Although not known as romantics, 70.7 percent of Britons believe that finding true love is the single most effective route to long-term happiness in one's life.
Almost half of parents receive the greatest happiness from a child's first smile, rather than first laugh (27 percent), word (18 percent) or steps (11.5 percent).
When asked what would make them happiest:
20.9 percent voted for having more time with their family
17.3 percent stated being able to live according to their morals
11.3 percent chose looking good and fashionable all the time
Day-to-day, relationships with friends and family were found to be the most important influencer of British happiness (62.3 percent), followed by money (10.7 percent), work (10.1 percent) and one’s appearance (5.6 percent).
Seventy-four percent of Britons believe that the secret of a happy relationship is a similar sense of humour, beating similar morals (50.3 percent), intimate relations with their partner (30.5 percent), partner’s appearance (9.9 percent) and partner’s wealth (4.5 percent).
“Happiness is a very individual state of mind but everyone can achieve it. This research highlights the importance of humour and love as foundations of the general British concept of happiness,” said happiness expert and author of “The Happiness System”, Alexandra Watson.
What Would Make Britain a Happier Country?
If respondents could be in charge for a day, they would go about creating happiness for the nation in the following ways:
Have a national holiday on St George’s Day (32.2 percent)
Lock up reality TV “celebrities” (24.9 percent)
Ban traffic wardens (11.1 percent)
Provide free chocolate for all British citizens (9.9 percent)
About two-thirds of Britons believe that children should be taught happiness in schools in order to improve national happiness – a move suggested by an LSE study in June 2007 (3).
“Britons get happiness from an amazing range of sources. We want people to capture and share their pictures of happiness as part of the SnapHappy initiative, which will help raise money and happiness for a good cause,” said Helen Vaid, managing director of Snapfish EMEA.
“The funds raised from this initiative will help NCH give more children a future worth smiling about. At NCH we are committed to looking into children and young people’s emotional wellbeing through our Growing Strong campaign, which we believe can have an affect on their happiness,” said Myles Bremner, head of fundraising for NCH, the children’s charity.
More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.
(1) Independent research conducted and verified by Tpoll research. Omnibus sample of cross section of UK population constituting 1003 respondents. Full report summary available upon request.
(2) In agreement with the NCH, the maximum donation from Snapfish for this project will be £5,000.
(3) Article entitled ‘Happiness and the teaching of values’ by Professor Richard Layard from the journal CentrePiece, Summer 2007
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