HALIFAX -- Happiness, it seems, is something that can be measured.

Hundreds of academics, farmers, environmentalists, business people, entertainers and health professionals are trying to figure just how to do that, and to convince others that it is just as an important indicator of a country's success as its economic well-being.

They will meet in Antigonish, N.S., today for the second International Conference on Gross National Happiness.

"We don't claim to measure well-being directly, but rather what are some of the social, economic and environmental conditions which are likely to produce higher levels of well-being," said Ron Colman of research group GPI Atlantic.

The Gross National Happiness movement was born 30 years ago in Bhutan, where the king declared gross national happiness to be more important than gross national product.