Roseau, March 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It has been a decade since the first World Happiness Report (WHR) was released and the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/281 that observes 20 March as the International Day of Happiness each year. This has prompted more people to believe that a country’s success is based on the happiness of its citizens. The consensus around how happiness should be measured can become an operational objective for governments around the world. According to the World Happiness Report (WHR) 2023, the Caribbean region has above average happiness level.
WHR 2023 states that a society will have overall high levels of life satisfaction, should the people “have high levels of what Aristotle called ‘eudaimonia’” this being their good health, pro-social and wellbeing. WHR 2023 is broken down into five chapters. Each chapter addresses a question posed and why happiness in society impacts various elements of a country’s economy.
- Chapter 1 question is “What is the consensus view about measuring national happiness, and what kinds of behaviour does it require of individuals and institutions?”
- Chapter 2 answers “How have trust and benevolence saved lives and supported happiness over the past three years of COVID-19 and other crises?”;
- Chapter 3 “What is state effectiveness and how does it affect human happiness?”
- Chapter 4 asks “How does altruistic behaviour by individuals affect their own happiness, that of the recipient, and the overall happiness of society?”
- Chapter 5 answers the question “How well does social media data enable us to measure the prevailing levels of happiness and distress?”
The Caribbean has become a much happier region post COVID-19. In 2023 the happiness levels were measured based on a life evaluation scale from 10 being positively affected to 0 being negatively affected. WHR develops insights into the happiness levels of each country, through GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, corruption and generosity.
The WHR is very similar to that of the CBI Index, the CBI Index focuses on countries that offer citizenship by investment into the country. CBI programmes are structured to enrich the well-being of local citizens and develop the nation’s infrastructure and amenities.
The CBI Index report 2022, published by The Professional Wealth Management (PWM) Magazine ranked the top countries with the best economic citizenship by investment programmes, Dominica took first place followed by St Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia took third place.
The CBI Index ranks each country based on these nine pillars:
- Freedom of movement;
- Standard of living;
- Minimum investment outlay;
- Mandatory travel or residence
- Citizenship timeline;
- Ease of processing;
- Due diligence;
- Family; and
- Certainty of product.
These nine pillars positively impact the benefits of these programmes and identify areas of improvement.
Investors can invest in their happiness through the Citizenship by Investment programmes available in the Caribbean. The Commonwealth of Dominica, Saint Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis have one of the best CBI programmes that are well recognised globally and allow investors to become global citizens through their programmes.
Each programme offers countless benefits to investors and their families, such as economic and political stability, tax incentives, safety and security for families to engage in education and healthcare utilities, and wealth protection with opportunities for offshore business banking services and new business ventures.
Dominica’s CBI programme was launched in 1993 and has developed into becoming one of the most desired programme around the world. The programme is one of the swiftest to obtain citizenship either through the Economic Diversification Fund (EDF) offers applicants the opportunity to invest in either the public or private sector projects in the country; or through the Real Estate Investment option.
St Kitts and Nevis’s Sustainable Growth Fund investment option has a Limited Time Offer for investors to apply for citizenship with a reduced contribution fee of US$125,000 per main applicant. The application processing time has been reduced from 90 days to 60 days and the Limited Time Offer is only valid until 30 June 2023. After the Limited Time Offer period, the contribution fee will increase to US$150,000 per main applicant.
Citizenship by investment Saint Lucia (CIP Saint Lucia) ranked third place in the CBI Index. CIP Saint Lucia was established in 2016 and continues to be one of the best performing, scoring 87 points in the CBI Index 2022 and has four different types of investment options that have contributed to its spot in the top three. The investment options are the National Economic Fund (NEF), National Action Bonds (NAB), Real Estate Investment Option and the Pre-Approved Enterprise Project Option.
