Not Merely Pursuing Happiness, Americans Are Good at Catching It

Is everybody happy? Almost everybody. In the latest of Gallup’s annual surveys on the matter, 55 percent of adults said they’re “very happy” and 40 percent rated themselves “fairly happy.” Just 4 percent said they’re “not too happy.” Nor is this cheery batch of numbers an anomaly. Apart from the survey conducted shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the “very happy” score hasn’t dipped below 40 percent in nearly 50 years.

In a new book called The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook notes that the percentage of people saying they’re happy isn’t higher now than it was in the 1950s, despite the steep rise in real income since then.