Satisfaction with Life Index

The Satisfaction with Life Index was created in 2007 by Adrian G. White, an analytic social psychologist at the University of Leicester, using data from a metastudy.^[1] It is an attempt to show life satisfaction in different nations.

World map indicating world happiness (2006)

  Good situation

  Satisfactory situation

  Noticeable problems

  Difficult situation

  Very serious situation

  Unclassified / no data

In this calculation, subjective well-being correlates most strongly with health (.7), wealth (.6), and access to basic education (.6).^[2][3]

This is an example of directly measuring happiness—asking people how happy they are—as an alternative to traditional measures of policy success such as GDP or GNP. Some studies suggest that happiness can be measured effectively.^[4][5]

This Index, however, is not solely based on directly asking "how people feel", but also on its social and economic development.^{[citation needed]}

The Happy Planet Index was used along with data from UNESCO on access to schooling, from the WHO on life expectancy, and from the CIA on GDP per capita to perform a new analysis to come to a unique and novel set of results.^[6] Specifically, the extent of correlation between measures of poverty, health and education, and the variable of happiness.^{[citation needed]}

Satisfaction Index

The subjective well-being index represents the overall satisfaction level as one number.

Analysed data to create the index comes from UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, the WHO, the Veenhoven Database, the Latinbarometer, the Afrobarometer, and the UNHDR. These sources are analyzed to create a global projection of subjective well-being: the first world map of happiness. Whilst collecting data on subjective well-being is not an exact science, the measures used are very reliable in predicting health and welfare outcomes.^[6]

International rankings 2007-2017

Rank	Country	SWL	Rank	Country	SWL
1	Denmark	283.33	90	Japan	206.67
2	Switzerland	273.33	91	Portugal	206.67
3	Austria	260	92	Saudi Arabia	203.33
4	Iceland	260	93	Sri Lanka	203.33
5	Bhutan	266.67	94	Tajikistan	203.33
6	Finland	256.67	95	Vietnam	203.33
7	Canada	246.67	96	Iran	200
8	The Bahamas	253.33	97	Comoros	196.67
9	United States	253.33	98	Brunei	196.67
10	Croatia	253.33	99	Poland	196.67
11	Ireland	253.33	100	Cape Verde	193.33
12	Luxembourg	253.33	101	Kazakhstan	193.33
13	South Korea	250	102	Nicaragua	193.33
14	Malta	250	103	Madagascar	193.33
15	Netherlands	250	104	Bangladesh	190
16	Antigua and Barbuda	246.67	105	Republic of the Congo	190
17	Malaysia	246.67	106	The Gambia	190
18	New Zealand	246.67	107	Ukraine	190
19	Sweden	246.67	108	Libya	190
20	South Africa	246.67	109	Seychelles	190
21	Saint Kitts and Nevis	246.67	110	Cambodia	186.67
22	Ecuador	246.67	111	Yemen	186.67
23	Norway	246.67	112	Rwanda	186.67
24	Vanuatu	246.67	113	Lebanon	186.67
25	Morocco	246.67	114	Guyana	186.67
26	Australia	243.33	115	Venezuela	186.67
27	Barbados	243.33	116	DR Congo	186.67
28	Belgium	243.33	117	Cuba	183.33
29	Dominica	243.33	118	Haiti	183.33
30	Nepal	243.33	119	Oman	183.33
31	Qatar	243.33	120	Niger	183.33
32	France	243.33	121	Burundi	183.33
33	Bahrain	240	122	Benin	180
34	Colombia	240	123	Suriname	180
35	Germany	240	124	Guinea-Bissau	180
36	India	240	125	Pakistan	180
37	Panama	240	126	Myanmar	180
38	Israel	240	127	Mozambique	180
39	Costa Rica	240	128	Palestine	180
40	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	240	129	Somalia	180
41	United Kingdom	236.67	130	Myanmar	176.67
42	Dominican Republic	233.33	131	Burkina Faso	176.67
43	Guatemala	233.33	132	Togo	176.67
44	Jamaica	233.33	133	Turkey	176.67
45	Qatar	233.33	134	Algeria	173.33
46	Spain	233.33	135	Equatorial Guinea	173.33
47	Romania	233.33	136	Moldova	173.33
48	Guatemala	230	137	Bosnia and Herzegovina	170
49	Cyprus	230	138	Central African Republic	170
50	Italy	230	139	Syria	170
51	Mexico	230	140	Guinea	170
52	Samoa	230	141	Iraq	170
53	Singapore	230	142	Syria	170
54	Papua New Guinea	230	143	Sierra Leone	166.67
55	Trinidad and Tobago	230	144	Armenia	163.33
56	Argentina	226.67	145	Central African Republic	163.33
57	Fiji	223.33	146	Serbia	163.33
58	Israel	223.33	147	Togo	163.33
59	Uzbekistan	223.33	148	Eritrea	163.33
62	France	240	151	Egypt	160
60	São Tomé and Príncipe	223.33	149	Angola	160
61	El Salvador	220	150	Djibouti	160
63	Hong Kong	220	152	Burkina Faso	156.67
64	Indonesia	220	153	Ethiopia	156.67
65	Kyrgyzstan	220	154	Latvia	156.67
66	Maldives	220	155	Lithuania	156.67
67	Slovenia	220	156	Uganda	156.67
68	Taiwan	220	157	Albania	153.33
69	East Timor	220	158	Malawi	153.33
70	Tonga	220	159	Chad	150
71	Chile	216.67	160	Côte d'Ivoire	150
72	Grenada	216.67	161	Niger	150
73	Mauritius	216.67	162	Eritrea	146.67
74	Namibia	216.67	163	Rwanda	146.67
75	Paraguay	216.67	164	Bulgaria	143.33
76	Thailand	216.67	165	Lesotho	143.33
77	Czech Republic	213.33	166	Pakistan	143.33
78	Philippines	213.33	167	Russia	143.33
79	Tunisia	213.33	168	Swaziland	140
80	Uzbekistan	213.33	169	Georgia	136.67
81	Brazil	210	170	Belarus	133.33
82	China	210	171	Turkmenistan	133.33
83	Cuba	210	172	Armenia	123.33
84	Greece	210	173	Sudan	120
85	Nicaragua	210	174	Ukraine	120
86	Papua New Guinea	210	175	Moldova	116.67
87	Uruguay	210	176	Democratic Republic of the Congo	110
88	Gabon	206.67	177	Zimbabwe	110
89	Ghana	206.67	178	Burundi	100

See also

• Social Progress Index
• Happy Planet Index
• Human Development Index
  • List of countries by Human Development Index
• Quality of life
• Gross National Happiness

References

1. White, Adrian (2007). "A global projection of subjective well-being: A challenge to positive psychology". Psychtalk. 56: 17–20.
2. University of Leicester (2006, 14 November). "Psychologist Produces The First-ever 'World Map Of Happiness'." ScienceDaily. Accessed 23 July 2011.
3. "Denmark 'happiest place on earth'". BBC News. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
4. Pink, Daniel H. (December 2004). "The True Measure of Success". Wired. Vol. 12, no. 12. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
5. Brittan, Samuel (22 November 2001) "Happiness is not enough Archived 29 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine" Templeton Lecture Inst. of Economic Affairs. Accessed 23 July 2011.
6. "University of Leicester produces the first-ever 'world map of happiness'" (Press release). University of Leicester. 27 July 2006. Retrieved 25 March 2014.