An exploratory study on the happiness of the elderly.

This paper identifies the important determinants of happiness, namely satisfaction with family, friends, personal health, finances, living condition and religion. A survey on the elderly in Singapore was conducted and the results show that family ties, financial security, personal health and living condition are important predictors of elderly happiness. Friends and religion are found to have negligible impact on the elderly happiness. Comparison with the U.S. GSS (General Social Survey) data strengthens these findings