International Day of Happiness 20 March 2015

After years of happiness research, one thing has proved fundamental - the importance of our connections with other people.

But modern societies are built as if the opposite was true. We are surrounded by people, yet we feel genuinely connected to almost none of them. The effects are devastating.

Social isolation is as potent a cause of early death as smoking; and the epidemic of loneliness is twice as deadly as obesity.

We could change this in a day if we all reached out and made at least one positive connection. For the International Day of Happiness, that's exactly what we're going to do.

For the International Day of Happiness 2015 we're inviting everyone to focus on their connections with others.