HAPPINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION AS INDICATORS OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING:

COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Progress reportSvetlana Kroitor

August, 2011Pushkin

Laboratory for comparative social research

The main results of the 1st research phase

 

Happiness,Rank / Mean –

weighted

Satisfaction,Rank / Mean –

weighted

Correlation happiness-satisfaction

Size of variation in happiness-satisfaction

correlation during 1981–2007

New West 1 / 3,35 2 / 7,67 0,520 0,02Protestant West 2 / 3,27 1 / 7,93 0,508 0,06Returned West 9 / 2,83 7 / 6,17 0,494 0,08Catholic West 7 / 2,99 4 / 6,80 0,493 0,06Orthodox East 10 / 2,64 9 / 5,16 0,470 0,14Cinic East 6 / 3,05 5 / 6,61 0,428 0,21Islamic East 8 / 2,96 8 / 5,95 0,427 0,18Sub-Saharan Africa 4 / 3,14 7 / 6,17 0,392 0,26Indic East 5 / 3,09 6 / 6,43 0,383 0,07Latin America 3 / 3,18 3 / 7,55 0,362 0,09

HYPOTHESIS: CORRELATION BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION INCREASES WITH

OBJECTIVE IMPOVEMENT OF PEOPLE’S LIFE QUALITY IN ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND

POLITICAL SPHERE

MAIN TASK:

TO STUDY HOW COUNTRY-LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDING THE LEVEL OF

ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS’ DEVELOPMENT AFFECT

HAPPINESS-SATISFACTION AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

DATA SOURCES

WVS datasets (1981–2007); statistics of UNDP, World Bank,

Freedom House

VARIABLESIndependent variables

ECONOMIC

WELFAREGDP

per capitaGini Inde

x

Income

share held

by highest/lowest 10% of country’s

population

POLITICAL

SITUATIONGood

Governance IndexIndex of Freedom

SOCIAL

SITUATION

HDI

Dependent variable

SUBLECTIVE WELL-BEING

Happiness- satisfaction correlation

The scatter plot illustrating the relative position of every country according to its happiness-satisfaction correlation and GDP per capita

The scatter diagram illustrating the relative position of every country according to its happiness-satisfaction correlation and Gini Index

The scatter diagram illustrating the relative position of every country according to its happiness-satisfaction correlation and Good Governance Index

The scatter diagram illustrating the relative position of every country according to its happiness-satisfaction correlation and Human Development Index

CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF STATES BY ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL

FACTORS AND HAPPINESS-SATISFACTION CORRELATION WITH THE PRELIMINARY

FACTOR ANALYSIS

Next step:

Factor analysis: Component Matrix*Component

1GDP per capita_1985-2005_mean ,845

Gini_1985-2005_mean -,597HDI_1985-2005_mean ,874Good Governance Index_mean_1996-2005

,858

Happiness-satisfaction correlation ,727

GDP per capita_1985-2005_mean ,845

* Extraction Metod: Principal Component Analysis.

CLUSTER ANALYSIS

Independent variable

FAC_1 (Factor scores for all observations

saved as a variable)

Cluster profilesNumber and label of

cluster Happiness-satisfaction correlation

GDP per capita_1985-2005_mean

Gini_1985-2005_mean

HDI_1985-2005_mean

Good Governance

Index_mean_1996-2005

happiness_

meansatisfaction_mean

CLUSTER 2: HIGHLY DEVELOPED

Mean ,533 25242,4 31,5 ,85 94,1 3,27 7,53

Std. Deviation

,033 5822,6 5,0 ,02 5,5 ,12 ,44

CLUSTER 3: DEVELOPED

Mean ,474 8487,1 31,9 ,77 73,4 2,84 6,16

Std. Deviation

,056 6541,0 6,2 ,04 11,3 ,22 ,84

CLUSTER 1: TRANSITION

Mean ,378 1778,9 41,7 ,58 39,9 3,02 6,28

Std. Deviation

,107 1464,5 8,2 ,12 18,2 ,26 1,01

CLUSTER 4: UNDERDEVELOPED

Mean ,140 383,7 45,7 ,31 23,6 2,98 4,71

Std. Deviation

,219 170,4 6,4 ,06 15,1 ,37 1,03

CLUSTER 2: HIGHLY DEVELOPED

Happiness-satisfaction correlation

GDP per capita_1985-2005_mean

Gini_1985-2005_mean

HDI_1985-2005_mean

Good Governance Index_mean_

1996-2005FRANCE ,603 22588,7 32,7 ,82 88,3GR. BRITAIN ,577 21367,3 36,0 ,82 92,3NETHERLANDS ,559 23465,1 30,9 ,86 98,2SWEDEN ,557 27564,8 25,0 ,86 97,7GERMANY ,552 23835,9 28,3 ,83 94,1JAPAN ,522 30247,4 24,9 ,85 79,6AUSTRALIA ,515 19888,2 35,2 ,89 94,6FINLAND ,513 24012,5 26,9 ,83 99,1UNITED STATES

,513 28672,2 40,8 ,88 90,5

CANADA ,506 21500,5 32,6 ,86 96,2NEW ZEALAND ,505 15118,2 36,2 ,86 98,7NORWAY ,503 33834,8 25,8 ,89 97,6SWITZERLAND ,503 36055,3 33,7 ,85 96,1MEAN for the cluster

,533 25242,4 31,5 ,85 94,1

CLUSTER 3: DEVELOPED

Happiness-satisfaction correlation

GDP per capita_1985-2005_mean

Gini_1985-2005_mean

HDI_1985-2005_mean

Good Gov. Index_mean_

1996-2005ITALY ,469 19757,5 36,0 ,81 79,9SPAIN ,379 14374,8 34,7 ,81 87,7

HONG KONG ,387 19493,5 43,4 ,80 61,5SINGAPORE ,389 18030,6 42,5 ,83 49,7ISRAEL ,582 14558,3 39,2 ,83 66,3

BULGARIA ,510 1987,0 28,5 ,70 63,7CROATIA ,490 5357,5 28,1 ,73 64,5CZECH REP. ,481 5975,3 24,8 ,81 78,3ESTONIA ,496 4303,8 34,7 ,77 82,9HUNGARY ,505 4676,5 26,4 ,76 87,7LATVIA ,483 3138,4 31,1 ,71 72,5LITHUANIA ,541 3491,6 31,4 ,74 76,7POLAND ,438 3595,7 30,8 ,75 81,4ROMANIA ,509 1904,6 28,8 ,70 59,6SLOVAKIA ,442 4562,2 21,6 ,77 76,9SLOVENIA ,480 10585,7 28,3 ,79 84,8

MEAN 0,474 8487,1 31,9 0,77 73,4

CLUSTER 4: UNDER DEVELOPED

Happiness-satisfaction correlation

GDP per capita_1985-2005_mean

Gini_1985-2005_mean

HDI_1985-2005_mean

Good Gov. Index_mean_

1996-2005RWANDA ,279 271,0 37,8 ,28 11,6

TANZANIA ,074 254,2 43,2 ,35 37,1

ZAMBIA -,140 385,8 50,1 ,37 36,3

ZIMBABWE ,346 623,8 51,5 ,23 9,5

MEAN for the cluster 0,140 383,7 45,7 0,31 23,6

ARMENIAAZERBAIJAN

BELARUSGEORGIA

KYRGYZSTANMOLDOVA

RUSSIAN FEDERATIONUKRAINE

COLOMBIABRAZILCHILE

EL SALVADORGUATEMALA

MEXICOPERU

URUGUAYVENEZUELA

ALGERIABURKINA FASOBANGLADESH

EGYPTGHANA

DOMINICAN REPUBLICMOROCCO

NIGERIASOUTH AFRICA

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOUGANDA

ALBANIABOSNIA AND

HERZEGOVINAMACEDONIA

CHINAVIET NAMTHAILANDMALAYSIA

INDIAINDONESIAPHILIPPINES

IRANJORDAN

MALIPAKISTANTURKEY

ARGENTINA

CLUSTER 1: TRANSITION

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!