Happiness is often seen as the fruit of an easy life, but empirical studies show that happiness can
go together with considerable hardship. Average happiness is high in current western nations, in
spite of chronic problems such as criminality, time-pressure and social inequality. Likewise, the
happiness of the average citizen is not affected by calamities such as the 11 September terrorist
attack on New York. At the individual level there are also examples of happiness in hardship: the
happiness of poor and handicapped people is only slightly below average.
These paradoxical findings can be explained in three ways: one explanation is that they
do not adequately reflect reality, because of measurement bias or false consciousness. A second
explanation holds that subjective happiness is insensitive to objective conditions. A third
explanation is that we can live with some problems and even flourish when confronted with
challenge.
These three explanations are considered in the light of the available evidence. It is
concluded that the last one fits best. Happiness requires livable conditions, but not Paradise
