Does being rich means happy? -- A post about Poverty.

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Human Development Reports (UN Development Program) | China   |Singapore
Happy Planet Index

Does being rich means happy? Societal point of view-- Singapore and China

Singapore
I do believe that Singaporeans are happy, more or less, with their lives despite our constant complaining. The government has done a lot for our population-- from incentives to give birth to more children, to EduSave scholarships and subsidies, HDB subsidies for first time buyers, single parents and low income families to MediSave, MediShield and even more Pioneer generation packages for our Pioneer generation-- I do believe that they've tried their best to be inclusive to Singaporeans of all demographics and income groups. However, this might largely be an assumption.
While we (as Singaporeans from an individual perspective) cannot/ do not often see homeless people sleeping at void decks or other public spaces and other signs of poverty, it does not mean that poverty, whether abject or absolute is absent.
It's safe to assume that poverty is present, but is happiness absent in those experiencing poverty?
Despite the government's efforts to include everyone in their schemes while preventing us from becoming a welfare state, there will still be a certain group or some people left out. However, looking at how abundant an average Singaporean's life is (our life expectancy is 83 years old, our homicidal rates are 0.2 per 100,000 people and we have the resources to 'produce' 4.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per capita), I doubt that Singaporeans lead unhappy lives.
The aforementioned numbers may just be statistics, but I see them as a rough indicator of our country's happiness.
We can and are generally able to afford the healthcare to live up to 83 years old, meaning that we have plenty of time to grow old and enjoy our retirement years, even though this may just be an assumption.
Our homicidal rates are 0.2 per 100,000 people, which means that Singapore is a generally safe country. This also means that the population doesnt have to live in constant fear that their lives will be endangered, thereby implying that their lives would be more fulfilling.
Our carbon dioxide emissions of 4.3 tonnes per capita has another implication-- that we are able to afford those carbon dioxide emission appliances-- from televisions to cars to fridges to laptops. These are probably things we take for granted but they indicate that we are at a certain level of wealth to be able to afford them.
From the above statistics, it does seem to imply that since Singapore is a relatively rich and prosperous place, we would be happy and fulfilled.
This is contradicted by our constant complaints and also our 'kiasu-ness', the constant need to outperform to the point of placing too much pressure on ourselves (or our children, from an adult's stand)
While we live in a safe and enjoy the many joys of life such as turning on our electronic appliances and relative water security, the stresses we constantly face at work, school, or in Singapore's competitve society, does take away a lot of our happiness.
However, from an individual's perspective, i'll have to argue that it is ultimately one's mindset that determines how happy we are. Singaporeans are often criticized of being too uptight and strict, and i do have fair reason to believe that if we 'let loose' a bit (without breaking the law, of course), Singaporeans will be happier. Ultimately, it is what we define as happiness and our mindset that determines how happy we are. For example, a student that prioritizes results will be happy upon hearing that he or she has obtained the desired result, while a homeless person would define happiness as having a roof over their head and going to sleep with a full stomach.
Therefore, I would like to conclude that while being rich may open opportunities to things that may make us happy and enable us to enjoy life, we are still susceptible to stresses in life (a point very true from a Singaporean student's perspective) which may rob us of our happiness.

China
China, on the other hand, has a largely different demographic from Singapore.
Their life expectancy is 75.8 years, while their expected years of schooling is 13.1 (a stark contrast to Singapore's 15.9 years) and their homicide rate is 1 per 100,000 people (very much larger than Singapore's homicidal rate) and their carbon dioxide emissions are 6.7 tonnes per capita.
China has experienced large economic and industrial growth in the recent decades and more will be expected of China in the years to come.
However, from a societal point of view, I would like to argue that not all the cities are progressing or 'modernizing' at the same rate. China is so large and vast that it'd be nearly impossible for a small rural village to be on par (economic or social) with large cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Therefore, taking into the consideration of some especially rural and poor states/provinces in China, it's possible to conclude that China is progressing, even though the some of it will have a harder time catching up than some. Please do note that this is based on an assumption that there are rural and poor villages in China.
China is also a highly competitive society, where the students are highly expected to do well, work hard and get a high-earning job in order to raise their elderly parents, since most of the students are only child(s) and therefore their parent's only pillar of support after they retire. (This isnt very true for the minority tribes, which are able to have more than one child and some villages that depend on manual labour to toil their land and thus earn a livelihood. For the villages, I heard that if the first child is a female, the family is permitted to have a second child.) This is based off personal accounts and observations from my cousins in Shanghai and therefore, there are many underlying assumptions in this.
Due to the large gap from the large cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Shen Zhen, etc) and small rural villages, there are often large gaps in education standards and also rates of crime. I have heard of several accounts of child kidnappings and trafficking in China, but i do not know how true these are. Still, from a societal perspective, I take the stand that when a person has a higher education, he or she is less likely to turn to a life of petty crime or murder, since the education may enable them to find a slightly higher-paying jobs. This is based on the assumption that well-educated people are less likely to endanger the lives of others, however, this is not true all the time.
This also means that in China, some may have to live with the constant fear of child kidnapping, murder, and the like. In these situations, these people may not be very happy, since the threat is mostly present. This is also worsened by the police's inability to track down missing children or be able to crack homicidal cases due to how large China is and how vast the population of a city might be, leading to even more fear and mistrust, since neglected cases mostly goes unsolved and leaves trauma to the victims' families. This is based on the assumption that the police wouldnt crack homicide cases, which may be largely untrue.
Their carbon dioxide emissions are 6.7 tonnes per capita, which may imply that they aren't very efficient with their fuel emissions (Beijing has their smog to prove this).
Higher carbon dioxide emissions and being inefficient in managing the emissions and would lead to air pollution, which is prevalent in large cities. This is based on the assumption that carbon dioxide emissions would lead to air pollution. Air pollution is damaging to the health of the people who live in the cities, especially the young children and the elderly. It is to be expected that this would be a cause for concern in many parents, which would take away some of their happiness.
However, from an individual's perspective, happiness is subjective and therefore hard to define, since it largely depends on one's definition of happiness and in extension, one's mindset and what the person values in life.


Conclusion:
In conclusion, while being rich may change what makes us happy, happiness is ultimately determined by ourselves, even though these statistics may be a rough gauge of how happy one might be in a certain country, be it Singapore or China. These two countries, while sharing many similarities, still have differences and will have largely different problems to deal with, and in extension, people in these two countries will have largely different things to worry about and largely different things to be happy about.