The International Day of Happiness is celebrated worldwide every March 20, and was conceptualized and founded by philanthropist, activist, statesman, and prominent United Nations special advisor Jayme Illien to inspire, mobilize, and advance the global happiness movement.
In 2011, Illien brought the idea and concept of creating a new global day of awareness, the International Day of Happiness, to senior United Nations Officials.
Illien authored UN resolution 66/281 ”International Day of Happiness”, which was ultimately adopted by the unanimous consensus of all 193 UN member states of the United Nations General Assembly on June 28, 2012
On September 17, 2012, Secretary General Ban Ki moon emphasized the importance of the new international day of happiness in his closing remarks to the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, “Mr. President, during your tenure, the General Assembly also instituted a new observance on the UN calendar: the International Day of Happiness. Let us hope that through our work, including in the new session that begins tomorrow, we can turn that aspiration into reality.
The first ever international day of happiness was celebrated on March 20, 2013.
Every March 20 since 2013, the International Day of Happiness is celebrated in 193 UN Member states, 2 observer states, and 11 territories.
On the 3rd every international day of happiness, UN Secretary Ban Ki moon said "Happiness for the entire human family is one of the main goals of the United Nations," and called upon all human beings to "dedicate our efforts to filling our world with happiness."
The second International Day of Happiness was promoted by Pharrell Williams and the United Nations Foundation with the world's first 24-hour music video to the song "Happy". Global citizens around the world were called upon to make their own music video to the song to make the first ever globally crowdsourced 24 hour global music video
2015 The third International Day of Happiness was promoted by Pharrell Williams, the United Nations and the United Nations Foundation among other global campaigns. Pharrell Williams made a speech at the United Nations General Assembly where he proclaimed "Happiness is your birthright" and asked for action on climate change. Google created a home page takeover which received more than 3.5 billion impressions. Google also initiated a campaign where Pharrell would pop up at random and dance in their google hangouts feature.
Jayme Illien, founder of the International Day of Happiness, and Illien Global Public Benefit Corporation, gained the support for the idea of the new International Day of Happiness from the President of the UN General Assembly and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, as well as all 193 UN member states to draft and adopt a new UN resolution to create the new international day, the International Day of Happiness. Jayme Illien authored UN resolution 66/281 and campaigned for its adoption by consensus of all 193 member states.
