Happiness Inside & Out:
A Global Perspective
A data-driven investigation into the representativeness and accuracy of the 2022 World Happiness Report, exploring what happiness means to various groups worldwide
About
Project structure and team members
Narrative
Research and findings with data visualizations
Data Critique
Dataset limitations and ontology
Sources
Relevant works of literature
Introduction
Emotions are thought to be the most unique aspect of the human experience. Most would agree that no two people’s sense of mental well-being is exactly the same. But, what if there are consistent underlying factors that contribute to a person’s happiness? This is the very trend that can be found in the World Happiness Report, and one we will expand upon in this project.
The World Happiness Report, generated from the Gallup World Poll, assigns an average “happiness score” to 146 countries based on 1,000 survey responses from each. The results of the survey, which is a self-evaluation of a person’s quality of life, explain happiness as a sum of seven factors – GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, corruption, and a dystopia offset. Dystopia is a factor that the researchers constructing the report decided to create and ultimately include in the final dataset. Dystopia is a way to compare each country to an “imaginary” country with the lowest national averages in each factor, truly encompassing the opposite of “utopia.” Consequently, happiness can be seen more favorably for each country if compared to dystopia. By analyzing the relationships between these submetrics, their correlation with happiness scores, and patterns that emerge in country-to-country comparisons, we uncover a number of potential indicators of happiness.
Furthermore, by coupling these findings with outside psychological studies, we conclude that multiple factors in the dataset can have a strong impact on one’s mental well-being. We used a number of visualizations to determine the factor(s) with the largest impact on happiness and concluded that GDP per capita displays the most significant correlation. Social support and healthy life expectancy are also notable factors with high impacts on one’s sense of satisfaction. Overall, our analysis demonstrates that The World Happiness Report introduces consistent underlying factors that contribute to happiness. We are committed to further exploring these factors on a geographical, political, and philosophical level, combining literature and data to holistically understand this complex emotion.
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Place in the Literature
When it comes to happiness, many social scientists agree that it should be measured with a more subjective approach that focuses less on economic wealth. Yet, there is no doubt that the different cultures around the world cause everyone to have different perspectives on the definition of happiness. Most scholars understand that there really is no true set definition of happiness, making it difficult to further research and uncover information about happiness that is relevant to the world as a whole. The divide between individualist and collectivist values has brought about conflict concerning what approaches are most appropriate when it comes to measuring happiness.
Nevertheless, the World Happiness Report emphasizes a more cultural approach more than it does a psychological one. And when looking at certain factors of happiness such as social support, healthcare, and education, scholars agree that as they increase, so does happiness. These ideas bring up questions regarding what humans really think about happiness and what policies need to be put in place to either keep happiness scores in countries at a high level or increase them; however, what has never been explored is how happiness can change over time due to age and the rise of technology in our modern world.
Significance
Happiness is widely accepted as a subjective concept, which makes it hard to assert confident conclusions based on data. Data is written in monotonous, unchanging truth while happiness is quite sporadic and determined by the individual. Describing happiness with data initially seems like it will result in a meaningless and inconclusive conclusion. However, the patterns in a wide range of factors are undeniable in our data. Our ultimate conclusion will show that quantitative data can indeed determine factors that significantly impact both qualitative and quantitative happiness.
To prove happiness can be measured both subjectively and objectively, we will combine literature with data. More specifically, our project overcomes the difficulty of defining happiness by allowing individuals themselves to report how they feel. By using survey data separated by country, we are able to obtain perceived happiness regardless of cultural interpretations. With this true, standardized measure in mind across 146 countries, we can attempt to identify trends in happiness levels that extend across the globe.
By obtaining a cross-cultural understanding of what comprises happiness, we are able to dictate what aspects of life may help contribute to a sense of satisfaction and wellbeing for all people. In essence, we persevere beyond societal boundaries to define happiness on a global scale, enabling us to make universal statements about how people can be made to feel happy.
Finding happiness regardless of culture