Abstract: While measuring a country's development we usually look upon its quantitative results and tend to overlook its qualitative aspects like happiness. The GDP Growth Rate alone cannot reveal the true development of a nation. And thus, this calls upon research on the relationship between happiness and economic growth. Through this research, the paper is trying to inquire if a higher Happiness Index necessarily means a higher GDP Growth Rate or vice-versa. If the Happiness Index falls, will the GDP growth rate also face a drop or will it show a rising trend? The research is based on secondary sources and offers a comparative analysis of the influence of GDP growth and happiness on development through a literature review of data from worldwide databases and previous research works. The research is descriptive and aims to find whether a relation between the two can be concluded by tabulating, assessing data, and studying the causes and taking 7 South Asian countries as the study cases.

Keywords: GDP Growth Rate, Happiness Index, South Asian Countries, World Happiness Report (2023).