Smart Dubai has announced the results for the Happiness Meter 2017, which seeks to measure happiness among the people of Dubai and identify ways to increase happiness within the community.

The “Meter” constitutes a roadmap to developing more effective and efficient services in Dubai, as it measures the quality of smart services on offer and detects ways to improve them. The results of the meter were calculated by deploying “Happiness Meter” devices across customer service centres for both public and private entities in Dubai, as well as via websites and smartphone applications.

More than 8.82 million users voted through the Happiness Meters in 2017. The overall scores were calculated based on two figures: first, interaction via smart channels, which accounted for 30% of the final figure, and second, customer votes, which made up 70% of the final score.

The Meter is divided into three main categories: Large Government Departments (with considerably high numbers of employees, customers and transactions), Medium-Sized Government Departments, and Private Companies.

Her Excellency Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General of the Smart Dubai Office (SDO), said: “Launching an advanced, emirate-wide instrument to measure happiness echoes the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world, which, in turn, are the main objectives of Smart Dubai.”

“Spreading happiness across the emirate, and sustaining this happiness for all our customers is our ultimate goal at Smart Dubai. We are working to raise Dubai’s happiness score to 95% by 2021, in partnership and cooperation with government and private bodies,” H.E. added. “Smart Dubai formulates sustainable visions based on accurate data from the Happiness Meter, one of the first experiences of its kind in the world. This enhances the quality of our services and ensures direct and effective communication between customers and service providers in the emirate in an effort to improve and develop services.”

H.E. Dr Aisha applauded government and private departments in Dubai for their contributions towards spreading happiness and for supporting Smart Dubai’s efforts to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world.

According to the Happiness Meter’s results in the Large Government Departments category, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) came in first place with a score of 83.49% satisfaction based on 1,209,914 votes. Meanwhile, Dubai Police came in second with an 81.74% score and 253,330 votes. Third place went to the Dubai Municipality with 80.77% based on 218,670 votes.

As for Medium-Sized Government Departments, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) ranked first with an 88.13% satisfaction rate, based on 47,093 votes. Dubai Courts came in second with an 81.99% score and 145,320 votes, whereas the Department of Land and Property in Dubai ranked third with 81.04% based on 184,455 votes.

In the Private Companies category, where more than 10,000 customers cast their votes, AAFAQ Islamic Finance scored 97.8% satisfaction based on 376,956 votes. Meanwhile, the Arab Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade came in second with a 97.7% score and 33,262 votes, and Al Jaber Optics ranked third with 96.6% satisfaction based on 31,831 votes.

The Happiness Meter is part of the ambitious Happiness Agenda, launched by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in May 2016, and developed by Smart Dubai to propose and implement policies, strategies and initiatives that embrace technology and advanced instruments in line with global best practices. The objective being to transform Dubai into a fully-fledged smart city, Smart Dubai also evaluates policies and initiatives, estimating their impact on the overall smart-transformation process, and works to meet all needs of Dubai’s population – be they basic, advanced, intellectual, sensory or empowerment needs