Loving partner, money and social activity key to happiness

A loving partner, a household income of up to USD 100,000 and finding a purpose in life is the new "golden triangle of happiness", a new Australian research has claimed.
Having a good intimate relationship was rated higher than money and being fat was no barrier to bliss, according to the research by Robert Cummins from the Deakin University.
An analysis of 29 Australian surveys over 12 years of research found that (apart from having a catastrophic medical condition) health is not part of the three elements that comprise the golden, 'The Australian' reported
"Health is one of the least important domains of our measurement and the reason is that because people adapt to amazingly difficult medical circumstances," Cummins said.

"We have looked very carefully at the effect of body weight on mood/happiness and people who are overweight, and even mildly obese, they are OK. Their mood/happiness is under control.
"We're talking about something which I think is more important - which is how people feel about themselves and their lives. The mild levels of being overweight don't affect happiness/mood very much at all," Cummins said.

The new research found that it doesn't matter where you live, whether your collar is white or blue or whether you've got kids or not - if you live within the golden triangle you're more than likely to have a permanent smile on your face.

"People who are then the happiest of the golden triangle group are the elderly with no dreadful conditions like severe arthritis," Cummins said.
"Happiness tends to rise beyond the age of 55 or 60. I'm not quite sure whether it is because the kids have left home or they're thinking about leaving their dreadful job," he said.