Almost half of the respondents to an opinion poll admitted that the Prayut government’s “Return the Happiness to the People” policy has not made them happier as there have not been any changes for the better for their livelihood after four years and six months since the military take-over. office.

The Nida Poll of the National Institute of Development Administration gauged the opinions of 1,250 people of different levels of education and occupations across the country during November 12-13 on the topic “4 years and 6 months of the NCPO and To Return the Happiness to the People” policy.

According to the poll, 47.68 percent of the respondents said they felt they were as happy as they used to be they didn’t see anything changes for the better to their livelihood, saying that the economic situation remains unchanged but the cost of living is still high.

30.64 percent of the respondents, however, said they were less happy because of the rising cost of living, restriction of freedom and liberty as well as inefficient law enforcement and law amendments which do not address problems at their root causes.

21.20 percent of the respondents said they were much happier under the current government because of improvement in peace and order, less corruption and several populist schemes for the grassroots people.

Compared to similar opinion poll conducted in May, 27.69 percent of the respondents said they were much happier; 46.85 percent said they were as happy as they used to be and 25.46 percent said they were less happy.

The poll also showed that 50.80 percent of the respondents cited peace and order as the cause of their happiness.