| Abstract: |
This study revisits the conventional wisdom of development, sustainability and
happy ageing. The first part explores the existing research frontier on how
happiness proceeds with age and assimilates different notions of happiness
which influence public policies and global demands. The second part extracts
the statistics from the National Statistical Office’s 2021 Survey of the Older
Persons in Thailand and presents stylised facts about the characteristics of
Thailand’s ageing population in connection with the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). The third part examines happiness in older persons
using ordered logistic regression. Happiness is represented by the reported
scale based on the respondent’s own value judgment. The finding reveals that
the happiness level significantly reflects socio-economic and health
well-being and, thus, can potentially be intervened by political commitment
and suitable public policies in concert with the SDGs. Happiness can be
considered both as an outcome and a useful success indicator of public
policies. However, the criteria for happiness can be very subjective. The
public sectors must take precautions against political bias and inefficiency
in incorporating old-age happiness into their development agenda. An effective
policy coherence, particularly in Non-High- Income Countries (NHICs), requires
a thorough understanding of old-age happiness in a more local areaspecific
context which is an attempt of this study. Policy recommendations from the
findings are summoned into four arenas, namely: (i) policy on education and
lifelong learning, (ii) policy on income and old-age employment, (iii) policy
on healthcare, public services and revenue raising, and (iv) policy on local
area disparity. |