Happy Barometer: Vilnius started to measure city happiness level

VILNIUS, Lithuania – The social initiative with the slogan Smile to Vilnius has begun – starting today, the Happy Barometer results are displayed online on outdoor digital screens around the city of Vilnius.

During its first week, the http://www.happybarometer.com website created on the basis of the IQ Polls interactive audience polling system measured the moods of more than five thousand residents of Vilnius which averaged out at 6.1 points out of 10.

Psychiatrist Aušra Deksnytė commented that the result of 6.1 points out of 10 is rather high, as international studies show that Lithuanians are not among the happiest of nations. Lithuanians almost always find themselves at the bottom of the table in such studies.

Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas was glad that the Happy Barometer project was initiated by the residents of Vilnius. “I am pleased that in terms of Internet speed, Vilnius is not only often ahead of Hong Kong, but is the first among the cities of the world to implement this modern project. I also encourage other cities worldwide to join in the project, as it not only has a meaningful goal, but also benefits the residents of those cities. After all, a smile is currency requiring no exchange when travelling around the world”, said the Mayor of Vilnius, Artūras Zuokas.

“Happy Barometer is a social project and it aims at encouraging people in cities around the world to smile more and to share their good mood with others. Vilnius is the first city that broadcast results on digital outdoor screens and using interactive voting system IQ Polls for letting people share their mood not only online, but also using their mobile devices. In the future, when the project brings together other cities around the world, we can follow the happiness indices in different cities of the world”, said one of the partners of the IQ Polls project and the originator of the Happy Barometer, Artūras Jonkus.