Former Vilnius mayor to run for parliament on ‘happiness platform’

Artūras Zuokas and his Lithuanian Freedom Union are returning to national politics by promising voters happiness.

“You know, I have been studying happiness economy lately and it has two steps. One – economic prosperity, and the other – how a person feels. And they have to go hand in hand with each other. To make our people feel happier, to create their standard of living here, income is a very important thing,” said Zuokas.

The Happiness index and happiness economy may be a new thing in Lithuania, but globally more and more attention is being paid to measuring and improving the happiness of countries populations as a key target of development policies.

The Government of Bhutan even has a national happiness philosophy and was a pioneer in targetting happiness as the key metric of societal development.

However, Zuokas said: “If we want to be happy, today the most important thing for the residents is income, which we have been saying since 2011. We should reach salaries of €1450 before tax by 2020.”

Alfa.lt