#RSS Feed for France articles - Telegraph.co.uk [p?c1=2&c2=6035736&cv=2.0&cj=1] Accessibility links * Skip to article * Skip to navigation [telegraph_print_190.gif] Telegraph.co.uk ___________________ Submit Wednesday 19 December 2018 * Home * Video * News * World * Sport * Business * Money * Comment * Culture * Travel * Life * Women * Fashion * Luxury * Tech * Film * USA * Asia * China * Europe * Middle East * Australasia * Africa * South America * Central Asia * KCL Big Question * Expat * Honduras * France * Francois Hollande * Germany * Angela Merkel * Russia * Vladimir Putin * Greece * Spain * Italy Advertisement 1. Home» 2. News» 3. World News» 4. Europe» 5. France Nicolas Sarkozy wants to measure economic success in 'happiness' Nicolas Sarkozy has cemented the French reputation for enjoying the good life by proposing the country's economic progress should be measured in "happiness". Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed measuring economic progress in terms of 'happiness' Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed measuring economic progress in terms of 'happiness' Photo: AFP By Henry Samuel in Paris 6:24PM BST 14 Sep 2009 The French president has announced a "revolutionary" plan to make joy and wellbeing the key indicators of growth, rather than traditional yardsticks like a country's gross domestic product (GDP). The new assessment will be based on figures relating to work-life balance, recycling, household chores and even levels of traffic congestion. Critics have pointed out that measuring "happiness" will make France's struggling economy, famous for its short working week and generous social benefits, look better. Mr Sarkozy asked US economist Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel economics prize and a critic of free-market economists, and Armatya Sen of India, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for work on developing countries, to come up with the new measures. Their report recommended a shift in emphasis on gross domestic product to ones which measure wellbeing and "sustainability". Related Articles * Nicolas Sarkozy: how french happiness will be measured 14 Sep 2009 Mr Sarkozy said he would "fight to make all international organisations change their statistical systems by following the recommendations" of the report. He said: "A great revolution is waiting for us. For years, people said that finance was a formidable creator of wealth, only to discover one day that it accumulated so many risks that the world almost plunged into chaos.' "The crisis doesn't only make us free to imagine other models, another future, another world. It obliges us to do so." When the measures are adopted, France will move a step closer to the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, currently the only country in the world which puts happiness at the heart of government policy. In Bhutan, the government must consider every policy for its impact on "Gross National Happiness". This has led to a ban on advertising, wrestling channels, plastic bags and traffic lights. Mr Sarkozy told a packed hall at Paris' Sorbonne university the world could have predicted last year's economic crisis if it had looked at happiness, wellbeing and sustainability. The French government is now planning to include many of the "happiness" indicators in its regular growth statistics. His report explains that dry economic statistics alone are no longer sufficient. "Traffic jams may increase GDP as a result of the increased use of gasoline, but obviously not the quality of life," it writes. The report also suggests "measuring the proportion of one's time in which the strongest reported feeling is a negative one", such as pain or worry. Conversely, positive emotions such as joy should also be charted. Leisure should be part of the equation too as "consuming the same bundle of goods and services but working 1,500 hours a year instead of 2,000 hours a year implies an increase in one's standard of living". More prominence should be given to the distribution of income and wealth, as well as to access to education and health. Others aspects to be factored in are hobbies, social relationships and levels of personal debt. Sustainability is vital, said the report, to factor in countries or individuals who over-consume their economic wealth or damage the environment for the future. The president is rumoured to have delayed the report's release as he thought discussing happiness in the depths of the economic crisis might have been unpopular. But with France showing timid signs of recovery, the president decided the world was ready. 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