Niveles de felicidad autoreportados en Colombia y México desde la perspectiva de los derechos humanos

Abstract

The right to happiness is a key element in the development and integral wellbeing of the individual and has become internationally recognized as a third generation and fundamental subjective human right that contributes to the strengthening and guarantee of other human rights together with principles such as justice and freedom. Based on this, the objective was to make an approximation to the levels of happiness in the Colombian and Mexican population by means of an exploratory study applying an ad hoc questionnaire in which 102 (68%) Colombians and 48 (32%) Mexicans (n=150) participated. Among the results it was identified that Mexicans (5.64, p= 0.004) are more satisfied with their life than Colombians (4.59), likewise Mexicans (5.91, p=0.013) identify themselves as happier and enjoy their life more than Colombians (4. 97), while in general men are happier (5.58) than women (5.09), a difference by nationality was also identified, given that Colombian women consider themselves to be quite happy (46.95%) and Mexican women consider themselves to be very happy (54.8%). It is concluded that the right to happiness encompasses normative, moral, cultural and socio-legal perspectives where internal and external elements converge, which should be considered to guarantee this right through inclusive public policies that promote citizen participation and articulate efforts by governments with those made by individuals to improve the conditions of their environments, which will have an impact on peaceful and adequate environments for the development of people.