Again though, you're attaching to metrics that are inherently un-knowable. A population being happy boils down to people being happy, and every person has their

Again though, you're attaching to metrics that are inherently un-knowable. A population being happy boils down to people being happy, and every person has their own subjective definition of happy, which is then filtered through the lens of self-reporting. If you goal is to create a happy society, then the people in that society should be allowed the maximum freedom possible to acquire knowledge, perform work, create art, etc. as makes them happy. To define their own profession, if you will, including "professions" that are not market valuable. Utopia, basically, which I think is actually becoming within reach if we can all manage to not kill each other in the next century or so.