If happiness indexes are anything to go by, Malta must have been hit by a depression of a cataclysmic proportion.

Consider this: seven years ago, the Maltese were ranked as the happiest people on the planet. Three years later, the island was placed as the second happiest in Europe. Within two years, Malta seemed to have gone into free fall, landing into 47th place in a classification of 156 countries and, last year, it dropped yet another place and now stands at 48th. Quite a jump.

True, the placings are in accordance with three separate indexes, or assessments, which must surely have different happiness measuring parameters. But, whatever the parameters used, does it not seem somewhat odd that from the happiest people on earth we have sunk so down in one index? Even though there is an element of jest in the way the argument is being put forward, it would still seem that the sharp drop in classification does not entirely reflect the situation on the ground.

Or does it?

A question of this nature is bound to raise different reactions, often depending on which side of the fence one stands. Poverty is rising and unemployment is gradually going up too. Government finances are still not in order. Debt has gone up well beyond the European Union threshold and one State corporation is in a most unenviable position.

In-built inefficiencies, not just in the public service but in some areas in the private sector as well, are a drag in efforts for this country to work for a greater rate of economic growth.

But what is contributing to the free fall, if a free it is? One factor may be the tension that the ongoing political struggle between the two main parties so often generates. Another is the long waiting time for an operation at the State hospital. Having a top class service is not enough if people have to wait a long time to have their operation done.

Is the cost of living manageable? Many, particularly those working in sectors paying above-average salaries, would say it is but others argue it is a daily struggle to make both ends meet. The gap is getting wider.

Yet, despite a string of other negative factors, there is a huge positive side to life in Malta as well. Overall, the country does not portray a picture of a people in a depression or that the drop to the 48th place in a happiness index is justified.

The climate is most congenial, giving many the chance to go out and enjoy their free time, contrary to the situation in places where the climate is too cold for people to get out of their homes. Band and football clubs and, in some villages, iz-zuntier tal-knisja (the church parvis) are still pivotal meeting places. This social inter-action strengthens social cohesion and helps germinate greater solidarity, which is usually expressed in the generosity that is shown so many times during the year.

The importance of happiness is perhaps best given by Bhutan, a small, mainly Buddhist country in South Asia. It measures its people’s happiness not by its gross national product but by gross national happiness.

There may be different interpretations of the indexes but, as the second world happiness report has put it so well, it ultimately boils down “to living the right kind of life”. Increasingly, well-being is being seen as the goal of policy. It makes good sense.