Blog > What Public Toilets Can Tell Us About National Happiness
David Herse | January 12, 2025
There are more than 20,000 public toilets in Australia. At first glance, that number might sound like trivia you’d save for a pub quiz. But when we dig deeper into the data, something fascinating emerges: countries with more public toilets per capita often rank among the happiest in the world.
Now, this doesn’t mean toilets cause happiness (though anyone caught short on a long walk might disagree). It’s correlation, not causation. But it’s a correlation that points to something far more important: the hidden signals behind how societies work.
Public toilets are a surprisingly effective proxy for infrastructure, governance, and economic health. Their presence suggests investment in public goods, attention to accessibility, and a respect for the basic dignity of residents and visitors.
Think about it:
It’s no accident that countries like Finland, Denmark, and New Zealand—often topping global happiness charts—also perform remarkably well in public toilet density.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Let’s look at the actual numbers:
Source: National infrastructure datasets and World Happiness Report 2023
Notice the pattern? The same countries with plentiful public facilities also consistently rank in the world’s top tier for happiness.
Australia’s 20,000+ public toilets tell their own story. With 81 toilets per 100,000 people, we’re doing reasonably well—better than many European nations but behind the Nordic leaders. This mirrors our happiness ranking: solid, respectable, but with room for improvement.
What’s particularly interesting about Australian data is the distribution. Our toilets cluster around beaches, parks, and tourist areas—places where people gather to enjoy life. It’s infrastructure that enables lifestyle, which in turn influences wellbeing.
Map these facilities, and you’re essentially mapping where Australians feel comfortable spending time outdoors. Add layers for playgrounds, BBQ areas, and walking tracks, and you’ve got a happiness heatmap hiding in plain sight.
This isn’t just academic curiosity. Understanding these proxy indicators has real-world applications:
Public toilets aren’t glamorous. They’re not usually seen as markers of prosperity. But when you zoom out, they act as indicators of something larger: a society’s willingness to invest in comfort, dignity, and shared spaces.
This raises a fascinating question: what other mundane data points are we overlooking?
Consider:
Each of these seemingly boring data points tells a story about how we live, work, and interact.
Modern location intelligence platforms can now layer these various datasets to reveal patterns invisible to the naked eye. When you combine:
You get a rich tapestry of community life that goes far beyond simple navigation.
For Australian businesses using location intelligence, this means looking beyond the obvious. Don’t just map where your customers are—map where they’re comfortable being. Don’t just track competitors—track the amenities that make areas attractive.
Happiness isn’t just about GDP or income—it’s about whether people feel safe, included, and able to participate in public life. And sometimes, the clearest window into that reality is found in the most unglamorous of places: the local public loo.
The next time you’re grateful for a clean, accessible public toilet, remember: you’re experiencing a tiny piece of what makes societies work. It’s infrastructure that says, “You’re welcome here. Stay a while.”
And that, perhaps more than any economic indicator, is what happiness is really about.
Curious about what location data can reveal about your community or business? Sometimes the most powerful insights come from the most unexpected places. At Mapulus, we help Australian organisations uncover the patterns hidden in their location data—even the unglamorous bits.
This analysis combines public toilet location data from national infrastructure databases with the 2023 World Happiness Report rankings. Australian toilet data comes from the National Public Toilet Map, maintained by the Department of Health. While correlation doesn’t imply causation, the relationship between public infrastructure investment and citizen wellbeing is well-documented in urban planning literature.
Have an unusual dataset that might reveal hidden patterns? We’d love to hear about it. Because sometimes, the best insights come from looking at the world through a different lens—even if that lens happens to be focused on public loos.