This article attempts to explain some of the campaigns to quantify happiness, life satisfaction on the basis of how the international rankings, such as planetary happiness index 2009-2013 's, (introduced by the New Economics Foundation), the index of a better life 2012-2013 and Russian ratings: rating the quality of life in the Russian regions and (Russian Longitudinal Monitoring health) RLMS data covers 5-20 waves (the period from 2006 to 2012). The authors trace look at the problem from ancient times to the present day. The article analyzes the modern trends in the study of happiness: psychological, in which the level of happiness depends on properties of the individual psychosocial, economic, which examined the dependence of happiness on individual income and its changes from the impact of government policies on taxation, employment and unemployment. Particular attention is paid to the concept of happiness in the Russian language and its impact on the feeling of happiness. Based on the etymological, economic and psycho-social analysis of the concept of happiness, the authors conclude that assessing the level of happiness of residents of different countries, it is necessary to take into account the linguistic and cultural aspects of happiness developed by people living in different countries.
