When introducing the content of the Resolution, many newspapers headlined "Vietnam will be powerful, prosperous, and happy in 2050". Many elderly people commented on Facebook that they regret not being able to live until 2050 to be happy. This opinion may be for fun, not necessarily a serious thought, but also reflects the reality that not everyone understands happiness the same way. The more important question is probably: "Is it true that only when a country is powerful and prosperous can people be happy?", "Is it necessary to wait until 2050 for people to be happy?".
Is happiness measurable?
Happiness is an abstract concept, belonging to the scope of emotion, subjectivity and philosophical meaning. Two people have the same conditions in terms of work, living standards, living environment, etc., but one person may feel happier than the other, especially when they have different thoughts about their position in society. Some people are materially poor but feel happier than a rich person who is always worried and troubled in their hearts. People with compassion only feel happy when they see others happy. In these meanings, the level of happiness cannot be measured.
However, many international agencies are looking for methods to measure and compare the level of happiness of people in countries. For example, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) annually publishes the World Happiness Report based on survey results on happiness scores.
The survey method is that each country selects about 1,000 people of various ages, both rural and urban, and of both sexes. Questions related to health, assessments of tolerance, mutual assistance between people in society, feelings about corruption and freedom of choice of career, choice of residence. The survey results are compiled into scores from 0 to 10 (the closer to 10, the higher the level of happiness).
Let's look at the case of Vietnam in the last 15 years. Vietnam's happiness score in 2010 was 5.3; in 2015 it was 5.09; in 2020 it was 5.35 and most recently (2025) it was 6.4. Thus, according to this report, Vietnamese people's happiness in the past 15 years has increased by about 1 point. According to the ranking between countries surveyed, in 2021 Vietnam ranked 79th out of 149 countries, in 2025 ranked 46th out of 147 countries. Thus, according to this criterion, in just 5 years, Vietnam has increased happiness more than many countries. Especially in Asia in 2025, the happiness score of Vietnamese people is very high, only behind Singapore.
For many Vietnamese people, these numbers are probably hard to believe. It is true that the survey method is difficult to truthfully reflect the feelings of happiness of the majority of people. For example, the person chosen to answer the survey group's questions usually must have a certain level of education, not be concerned about income, about life and be able to arrange time to participate in surveys. Low-income people, who have to work hard to make a living, are people who can be considered less happy, cannot be chosen in surveys. Therefore, the numbers related to happiness are only for reference. However, the World Happiness Report survey also gives some suggestions to understand some factors that bring people happiness. That is health, the freedom to choose a career and place of residence, and the perception of society around them (spirit of mutual support, attitude of tolerance, corruption)... In fact, there are many other factors related to happiness. Below, we try to provide a full analysis of the content of happiness and the factors that bring people happiness, thereby proposing development strategies and related policies.
Conditions for people to be happy
In my opinion, three criteria can be given to assess the level of happiness of people in a country.
First, the ability to ensure the minimum needs of life such as food, clothing, accommodation, education, culture, health along with improving working conditions. The quality of life in general will increase with the level of economic development. The working environment is also a factor related to happiness because it affects the physical and mental health of workers. In addition, the shorter working hours are, the more workers have conditions to rest and entertain, increasing the quality of life in terms of culture.
From this criterion, we see that in general, the more the economy develops, the happier people become. However, there are two conditions that need to be added here. That is the environment and the distribution of income. Environmental pollution, traffic congestion, etc. reduce the quality of life. Distribution of income is too unequal, causing the low-income class not only to be slow to improve but also to feel dissatisfied when seeing unfair society, not creating equal opportunities for all components. In this point, many people feel less happy than when the economy has not developed but income distribution is not too disparate. The economy grows but a social component does not have the opportunity to participate in the development process, still stuck in poverty, and is also a breeding ground for social instability. In such a society, people with high incomes are not necessarily happy.
Due to the points just mentioned, between countries with the same level of development but the quality of development related to the natural environment and society is not the same, the feeling of happiness of the people of one country will not be the same as that of the people of other countries. However, many studies show that in general, countries with high levels of development have conditions for people to live happily more than countries with low levels of development.
Vietnam has achieved a high average development level in 2025, and is striving to grow to achieve the goal of becoming an advanced high-income country by 2045 and a powerful and prosperous nation by 2050. If the development strategy is full employment, creating equal opportunities for people in employment, for businesses in accessing resources (capital, land) for investment and paying attention to environmental protection, then people will enjoy happiness right in the development process. Efforts in education and training to make more and more workers have high skills so that they can meet new needs in the labor market also increase the happiness of many people when they feel not left behind in the development process. In addition, when going to public authorities to carry out procedures, if treated kindly, resolved quickly and without negative costs, people will feel happy every time they have an administrative need.
Second, social capital is also a factor that determines the level of happiness of people in the community. People feel happy when they are trusted and respected by the community, and when they themselves often feel trust, respect, and love for others in the community. Many people, if not all, will feel happy when everyone in the community acts with self-respect, full responsibility and capacity that everyone considers worthy of their job and position.
To increase social capital in a developing country in a market economy, on the one hand, through books and newspapers, through the mass media, it is necessary to make everyone understand that the market economy needs ethics, needs trust and mutual trust; on the other hand, it is necessary to always uphold a cultural and ethical lifestyle. Superiors such as parents, siblings in the family, people in leadership positions for subordinates and for the people must be exemplary. In the long term, it is necessary to focus on educating culture and ethics in schools so that young people, when they grow up, become responsible and self-respecting people.
Third, as introduced in the World Happiness Report above, freedom is also a factor for happiness, but we need to understand that freedom has a broader meaning. According to the definition of Amartya Sen, an Indian economist who won the 1998 Nobel Prize, development is the process of increasing the freedoms that people enjoy. Gross domestic product (GDP) increases and is distributed equally, universal education and public health will increase economic freedom, helping people escape poverty, disease and ignorance. The more these aspects develop, the more people can be free to work or spend more time on rest, entertainment, and cultural and spiritual life.
The contents on economic freedom just mentioned need to be concerned right now and have appropriate policies so that people can be happy right in the current stage. It is very fortunate that Vietnamese leaders have seen the importance of this issue, reflected in the recent statements of General Secretary To Lam at the 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of the South, national reunification, in the working session with the Ministry of Health on Vietnamese Doctors' Day or at the 80th Anniversary of the Education sector and the opening of the new school year 2025–2026. In the speech at the 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification, there was a passage: "It is necessary to focus on implementing well policies on fairness, social progress, social security, social welfare, policies for people with meritorious services; implementing tuition fee exemption policies for all levels of general education; determined to complete the program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses nationwide, promote the construction of social housing for low-income people; focus on developing healthcare, taking care of people's health, and moving towards waiving hospital fees for people, so that every Vietnamese citizen truly has a secure, safe, free, prosperous and happy life.
This view is correct. These are contents that ensure economic freedom for the low-income class, making them feel happier. But relevant policies need to be implemented immediately and the apparatus must move quickly to implement them.
A country if people are guaranteed personal security and freedoms within the framework of the law, their happiness will increase.
Vietnam's current development goal is "Rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization" which has included most of the criteria for happiness and is concretized by the two concepts of "strong, prosperous" in Resolution No. 306/NQ-CP of the Government on the vision to 2050.
With the content of happiness and the above strategies and policies, more and more people will feel happiness right from the early years of the new era, without having to wait until 2050.
