1. Progress report Svetlana Kroitor August, 2011 Pushkin
Laboratory for comparative social research
HAPPINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION AS INDICATORS OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Progress report
Svetlana Kroitor
August, 2011
Pushkin

2. The main results of the 1st research phase
Happiness,
Rank / Mean – weighted
Satisfaction,
Correlation happiness-satisfaction
Size of variation in happiness-satisfaction correlation during 1981–2007
New West
1 / 3,35
2 / 7,67
0,520
0,02
Protestant West
2 / 3,27
1 / 7,93
0,508
0,06
Returned West
9 / 2,83
7 / 6,17
0,494
0,08
Catholic West
7 / 2,99
4 / 6,80
0,493
Orthodox East
10 / 2,64
9 / 5,16
0,470
0,14
Cinic East
6 / 3,05
5 / 6,61
0,428
0,21
Islamic East
8 / 2,96
8 / 5,95
0,427
0,18
Sub-Saharan Africa
4 / 3,14
0,392
0,26
Indic East
5 / 3,09
6 / 6,43
0,383
0,07
Latin America
3 / 3,18
3 / 7,55
0,362
0,09

3. HYPOTHESIS:
CORRELATION BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION INCREASES WITH OBJECTIVE IMPOVEMENT OF PEOPLE’S LIFE QUALITY IN ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SPHERE

4. 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

5. DATA SOURCES WVS datasets (1981–2007);
statistics of UNDP, World Bank, Freedom House

6. VARIABLES Independent variables Dependent variable HDI
ECONOMIC WELFARE
GDP per capita
Gini Index
Income share held by highest/lowest 10% of country’s population
POLITICAL SITUATION
Good Governance Index
Index of Freedom
SOCIAL SITUATION
HDI
Dependent variable
SUBLECTIVE WELL-BEING
Happiness- satisfaction correlation

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

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

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

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

11. Next step:
CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF STATES BY ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS AND HAPPINESS-SATISFACTION CORRELATION WITH THE PRELIMINARY FACTOR ANALYSIS

12. Factor analysis: Component Matrix*1
GDP per capita_ _mean
,845
Gini_ _mean
-,597
HDI_ _mean
,874
Good Governance Index_mean_
,858
Happiness-satisfaction correlation
,727
* Extraction Metod: Principal Component Analysis.

13. (Factor scores for all observations saved as a variable)
CLUSTER ANALYSIS
Independent variable
FAC_1
(Factor scores for all observations saved as a variable)
Dependent variable
Correlation coefficients between the variables “happiness” and “life satisfaction”

14. Cluster profiles
Number and label of cluster
Happiness-satisfaction correlation
GDP per capita_ _mean
Gini_ _mean
HDI_ _mean
Good Governance Index_mean_
happiness_
mean
satisfaction_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
,474
8487,1
31,9
,77
73,4
2,84
6,16
,056
6541,0
6,2
,04
11,3
,22
,84
CLUSTER 1: TRANSITION
,378
1778,9
41,7
,58
39,9
3,02
6,28
,107
1464,5
8,2
18,2
,26
1,01
CLUSTER 4: UNDER
DEVELOPED
,140
383,7
45,7
,31
23,6
2,98
4,71
,219
170,4
6,4
,06
15,1
,37
1,03

15. CLUSTER 2: HIGHLY DEVELOPED
Happiness-satisfaction correlation
GDP per capita_ _mean
Gini_ _mean
HDI_ _mean
Good Governance Index_mean_
FRANCE
,603
22588,7
32,7
,82
88,3
GR. BRITAIN
,577
21367,3
36,0
92,3
NETHERLANDS
,559
23465,1
30,9
,86
98,2
SWEDEN
,557
27564,8
25,0
97,7
GERMANY
,552
23835,9
28,3
,83
94,1
JAPAN
,522
30247,4
24,9
,85
79,6
AUSTRALIA
,515
19888,2
35,2
,89
94,6
FINLAND
,513
24012,5
26,9
99,1
UNITED STATES
28672,2
40,8
,88
90,5
CANADA
,506
21500,5
32,6
96,2
NEW ZEALAND
,505
15118,2
36,2
98,7
NORWAY
,503
33834,8
25,8
97,6
SWITZERLAND
36055,3
33,7
96,1
MEAN for the cluster
,533
25242,4
31,5

16. Happiness-satisfaction correlation
CLUSTER 3: DEVELOPED
Happiness-satisfaction correlation
GDP per capita_ _mean
Gini_ _mean
HDI_ _mean
Good Gov. Index_mean_
ITALY
,469
19757,5
36,0
,81
79,9
SPAIN
,379
14374,8
34,7
87,7
HONG KONG
,387
19493,5
43,4
,80
61,5
SINGAPORE
,389
18030,6
42,5
,83
49,7
ISRAEL
,582
14558,3
39,2
66,3
BULGARIA
,510
1987,0
28,5
,70
63,7
CROATIA
,490
5357,5
28,1
,73
64,5
CZECH REP.
,481
5975,3
24,8
78,3
ESTONIA
,496
4303,8
,77
82,9
HUNGARY
,505
4676,5
26,4
,76
LATVIA
,483
3138,4
31,1
,71
72,5
LITHUANIA
,541
3491,6
31,4
,74
76,7
POLAND
,438
3595,7
30,8
,75
81,4
ROMANIA
,509
1904,6
28,8
59,6
SLOVAKIA
,442
4562,2
21,6
76,9
SLOVENIA
,480
10585,7
28,3
,79
84,8
MEAN
0,474
8487,1
31,9
0,77
73,4

17. CLUSTER 4: UNDER DEVELOPED
Happiness-satisfaction correlation
GDP per capita_ _mean
Gini_ _mean
HDI_ _mean
Good Gov. Index_mean_
RWANDA
,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

18. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
CLUSTER 1: TRANSITION
ARMENIA
AZERBAIJAN
BELARUS
GEORGIA
KYRGYZSTAN
MOLDOVA
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
UKRAINE
COLOMBIA
BRAZIL
CHILE
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
MEXICO
PERU
URUGUAY
VENEZUELA
ALGERIA
BURKINA FASO
BANGLADESH
EGYPT
GHANA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
MOROCCO
NIGERIA
SOUTH AFRICA
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
UGANDA
ALBANIA
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
MACEDONIA
CHINA
VIET NAM
THAILAND
MALAYSIA
INDIA
INDONESIA
PHILIPPINES
IRAN
JORDAN
MALI
PAKISTAN
TURKEY
ARGENTINA

19. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!