Comparing our income with others can make us unhappy, study claims

A new study has found that people who compare their income with others are more likely to be depressed and less satisfied with their lives because it makes them focus on what they haven’t got.

The report found that the greater the importance people attach to comparisons, the lower they rank on different satisfaction scales such as:

• satisfaction with life as a whole
• subjective general health
• feeling of depression during the past week
• satisfaction with one’s standard of living
• satisfaction with job and
• feeling that one gets paid appropriately, considering efforts and achievements.

The study was conducted by Andrew Clark and Claudia Senik at the Paris School of Economics.

While reading this article I thought of the following passage from the inspirational poem Desiderata.

… If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. ”

— Author Unknown

For more details about the study visit the Telegraph.co.uk.