When the United Nations released its annual World Happiness Report (WHR) in March this year, India's rank towards the bottom of the list received considerable coverage in the press. The country's slide down from 122nd the previous year to 133rd, out of 156 countries, seemed to particularly irk the Indian media, which also glumly reported Pakistan's 75th position on the list. In Southasia, only Afghanistan, it seemed, was less happy than India. This was in contrast to another report that was significantly more favourable to India. The Democracy Index 2017, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), placed India 42nd among 167 countries, declaring it the most democratic country in Southasia. (Maldives is not included in either of the studies.)
There are few reasons for Southasians to cheer. The region continues to be ranked significantly lower in comparison to other regions in both of these reports. However, what is one to make of the apparent contradiction between the two reports when it comes to India's ranking? Both studies purport to map the quality of citizenship around the world. Is India then simultaneously the most democratic and among the least happy countries in Southasia? Should we expect the results of these two reports to overlap? And what exactly is being measured in these assessments of national happiness and democracy?
Measuring national well-being
The EIU's Democracy Index is structured to capture "the features that determine how substantive [a] democracy is." Produced by the group that publishes the British periodical the Economist, known for advocating free markets and political liberalism since 1843, the report's key variables include electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture. The EIU then scores these variables for each country, relying on its experts as well as public-opinion surveys, to arrive at an aggregate index. Based on the performance in these indices, the countries are ranked and categorised as full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes. Significantly, however, the report admits their ranking has nothing to do with "other aspects—which some authors argue are also crucial components of democracy—such as levels of economic and social well-being." It continues: "our Index respects the dominant tradition that holds that a variety of social and economic outcomes can be consistent with political democracy, which is a separate concept [emphasis author's]."