Measuring happiness

A chara, – Your recent article on the woes of millennials ("Only 31% per cent of millennials believe they will be happier than their parents", September 7th) starts on a ridiculous premise: that we should all be getting happier. By that reckoning, Cicero must have been a pitiful wretch, and Donald Trump must be in state of constant ecstasy.

What earthly right does any generation have to expect, or even dare to hope, that their lives will be happier than their parents? Whatever about financial earnings, which might be reasonably hoped to increase with continued innovation, such an abstract concept as happiness cannot be expected to increase in value like a blue-chip stock. – Is mise,

OSCAR DESPARD,

Portobello,

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Dublin 8.