[From the chapter The most beautiful]

The first chapter of the World Happiness Report 2023, by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey D. Sachs, argues that the central task of institutions is to promote the conditions of happiness, and that all public spending should be assessed by its effect on well-being. It is in setting out the responsibilities of government that the authors invoke Jefferson’s 1809 letter to the Republicans of Washington County, Maryland, placing it alongside Aristotle’s claim that the purpose of politics is eudaimonia.

For Aristotle, eudaimonia belonged to the person possessing both virtuous character and sufficient external goods — a condition he defined as the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. The word joins eu, meaning good, with daimon, meaning spirit; English renders it variously as happiness, well-being, or flourishing, none of the three quite sufficient on its own.

Source: Helliwell, J. F., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. D. (2023). The Happiness Agenda: The Next 10 Years. In World Happiness Report 2023 (11th ed., Chapter 1). Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Full chapter here (PDF)