Delhi, June 11, 2015: ‘Happiness’ and ‘Trust’ top the list of India’s most important values in life as ranked by 54% Indians, reveals the LG Life’s Good Happiness Study, commissioned by LG and conducted by IMRB International. North Indians are the happiest with an Happiness Index Score of 141 with Chandigarh ranked as  India’s ‘Happiest city’  and Delhi emerging as its ‘Happiest metro’  basis the qualitative and quantitative study covering 2424 respondents across 16 cities. The LG Life’s Good Happiness Study, which deconstructs the happiness lifecycle of Indians into 5 key drivers of happiness, viz., the 4Ps –Passion, Purpose, Pleasure, Pursuit, and their Context; was unveiled in national capital.

Unveiling the study, Mr. Soon Kwon, Managing Director, LG India said, “LG as a brand stands for our ethos of Life’s Good and our brand philosophy is to develop and market products that make our consumers’ lives happy. The LG Life’s Good Happiness Study is a manifestation of this commitment and has been undertaken to understand the social construct of happiness and what makes people of India happy. My heartfelt congratulations to Chandigarh on winning the title of being India’s happiest city and Delhi for being the happiest metro. The findings of the study will help bring us closer to our customers and enable us to   play an important role in their pursuit of happiness!”

The overall LG Happiness Index has been benchmarked against the 5 domains of happiness, including:

-  Pursuit of aspirations and  ambitions, including personal success and achievements, preparedness for an emergency, and access to new  and  innovative products

-  Purpose that reflects progress in life, in terms of possessions and status, including overall financial status, material possessions; opportunity and  ease to fulfil needs and  desires, and physical appearance;

-  Pleasure that gives a temporary high, including work – life balance; freedom to do what one wants, and the amount of time spent with near and  dear ones;

-  Passion for aspects that one is deeply engaged in, such as quality of relationships and  connection with people in society beyond family and  friends; and

-  Context, which refers to the surrounding socio-economic environment.

Indians happiest on ‘Passion’ and ‘Pleasure’ domains

Overall, Indians are most happy on the ‘Passion’ and ‘Pleasure’ domains with Happiness Index Scores of 121 and 110 respectively, while the ‘Context’ and ‘Pursuit’ domains with scores of 90 and 89 can improve. Drilling down to individual factors within the domains, Indians are most happy on aspects related to family, as illustrated by factors like ‘the amount of time we get to spend with family’ with an Happiness Index Score of 133, ‘the quality of relations with friends and family’ with 130 and ‘the support from friends and family’ at 123. Other aspects inducing happiness are more individualistic factors, including–‘authority to take decisions on our own life’ and ‘physical appearance’ with Happiness Index Scores of 123 and 116 respectively. The overall status of the country, things that enhance social status, and the state of social and cultural values, come in as the bottom factors on the Happiness Index with scores of 67, 81 and 88 respectively.

Younger generation desire happiness most, but older generation is happier

The LG Life’s Good Happiness Study reveals that those to whom Happiness matters most are the least happy. While being happy is a priority for the younger age group, with 58% of those aged 18–24 years ranking happiness as their most important core value, it is the older people aged 35-45 years, with a Happiness Index of 103, who are happier as compared to the younger people at a score of 100. While happiness is important across age groups, respect and trust gain importance in the older age groups.

Money can buy you Happiness!

The LG Life’s Good Happiness Study reveals similarly that while happiness is important across economic classes of Indians, the importance of being happy is more for the lower economics classes with 60% in SEC C, ranking happiness as the most important core value. However, it is the affluent people who are happier, with respondents in SEC A having at an overall Happiness Index of 118 units, as compared to those in SEC C who are the least happy with an Happiness Index Score of 76. Similar to the age group findings, while happiness is important across SECs, respect and trust gain importance in the higher SECs.

Chandigarh happiest city, Delhi happiest metro

Chandigarh with an Happiness Index of 190, is the happiest city followed by Lucknow at 157, while Delhi ranked at number 3, with an Happiness Index of 149, is the happiest metro, followed by Chennai at number 4 overall, with an Happiness Index of 131.

The Top 5 happiest cities – Chandigarh, Lucknow, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru - all share the same broad themes as the sources of their happiness. The people of these cities are broadly happy with the amount of time they get to spend with family and the quality of relationship they share with friends and family. They are also happy with the kind of control they have over their lives and doing what they want and taking decisions for themselves.

Chandigarh, reflecting its “if-you-want-it-then–do-it” ethos, ranks highest on the Pleasure and  Passion domains with Happiness Index (HI) scores of 204 each, driven by factors like being able to do things for themselves (HI 231), and the time they have for themselves (HI 224). Being most happy about their physical appearance being their top ranked factor (HI 249) resulting in a higher ranking (HI 202) Purpose domain.

Similarly, Lucknow, the city of Nawabs and  India’s heritage capital, rides on quality of relationships (HI 280) and  time spent with family and  friends (HI 284), and the support received from them (HI 270) for its high Happiness Index Scores on Passion (263) and Pleasure (202).

Delhi, the happiest Metro, in contrast, is more individualistic in its joys – here, they enjoy having time for themselves (HI 193) and recognition for their work (HI 168) resulting in their high scores on the Pleasure and  Purpose Happiness Indies Scores of 164 and  150 respectively.

Apart from relationships, Chennai is most happy along with access to new technology (HI 168) and being prepared for emergencies (HI 158) this revealing its dual state of a conservative core, coupled with a modern and technology-friendly ethos.

Bengaluru citizens seem to be most in control of their lives and uniquely happy about their ability to fulfil all their needs and desires (HI 137), reflecting in its high ranking (HI 121) in the ‘Pleasure’ domain.

 Measures to Improve Happiness

Reflective of the national outlook, which with a low-mid level of USD 1600 per capita income, is in a “striver” mindset, the citizens of the least 5 happy cities of Guwahati, Mumbai, Jaipur, Kochi and  Hyderabad, stated that better financial status, material possessions and opportunity is what would increase their happiness quotient. On the other hand, the citizens of the 5 happiest cities of Chandigarh, Lucknow, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru, revealed that they may be happy with what they have, but more of the same would certainly make them happier, also reflective of the current public sentiment in the country.

About LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd.

LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Electronics, South Korea was established in January 1997 in India. It is one of the most formidable brands in consumer electronics, home appliances, IT hardware and mobile communications space. In India for a decade, LG has earned a premium brand positioning and is the acknowledged trendsetter for the industry. LGEIL's manufacturing unit at Greater Noida is one of the most eco-friendly units among all LG manufacturing plants in the world. The second Greenfield facility is located at Ranjangaon; Pune has the capacity to manufacture LED TV’s, air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and monitors.

For further information contact:                                                               

Neeta Linz- neeta.linz@lge.com