Felicidade Interna Bruta na cidade de Fortaleza – CE

Abstract

The city of Fortaleza has high levels of social and economic inequality so that attempts to measure their development may not capture the reality of part of the population, especially more subjective aspects that involve their satisfaction and well-being. Considering this fragility of the current development metrics, the general objective of this work was to measure the “happiness” of the inhabitants of Fortaleza - CE during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the Gross Domestic Happiness index. To this end, an online survey was carried out, which consisted of answering a form containing questions related to happiness indicators distributed in nine dimensions and measured using a likert satisfaction scale whose categories ranged from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. The FIB was obtained by aggregating the indicators for each dimension. Still as methods of analysis, procedures of descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted. The main results showed that most of the interviewees fell into the middle-level class of happiness. In addition, the dimensions that most limit happiness in the city of Fortaleza are governance and ecological resilience, while those that contribute most positively are education and cultural diversity. Factors such as age, education, marital status and religion do not interfere with levels of happiness. However, lower levels of income and work are identified among those classified in the lowest levels of happiness. Therefore, it is considered that the FIB proved to be a useful tool to assess the level of happiness of the population at the same time that it produces information for the identification of demands to be met by public managers responsible for welfare policies aimed at the population.