The ability of money to buy happiness has long been validated by people, but that may not be the case.
The question of whether having money really makes you happy has been hotly debated for many years.
Scientists now say they've settled the argument, which is good news as long as your bank account isn't exploding.
In a recent study, researchers surveyed more than 3,000 members of local and indigenous communities around the world; 36% of them had no source of income.
According to the questionnaires, many of these people had high levels of life satisfaction even though they had very little money.
“The frequently observed strong correlation between income and life satisfaction is not universal and demonstrates that wealth, as generated by industrialized economies, is not fundamentally necessary for humans to lead happy lives,” said Victoria Reyes-García, lead author of the study.
Until now, economic expansion has generally been seen as a foolproof strategy for improving the well-being of citizens in low-income countries.
In fact, recent international surveys have supported this tactic, showing that people in wealthy countries generally report higher levels of life satisfaction than those in low-income countries.
In their latest research, the academics sought to question the universality of this association, according to daily mail.
Researchers surveyed 2,966 members of local communities and indigenous peoples around the world about their income level and happiness with life.
According to the results, the average life satisfaction score was 6.8 on a scale of 0 to 10.
