Growth, Development and Happiness 2.11
The responses of individuals to these different in the quality of the social fabric within greater
questions are highly distinct. A very poor person Europe, there has also been some progress toward
might report himself to be happy emotionally at equality in the distribution of well-being among
a specific time, while also reporting a much lower global regions. There have been important
sense of happiness with life as a whole; and indeed, continental crosscurrents within this broader
people living in extreme poverty do express low picture. Improvements in quality of life have been
levels of happiness with life as a whole. Such particularly notable in Latin America and the
answers should spur our societies to work harder Caribbean, while reductions have been the norm
to end extreme poverty. in the regions most affected by the financial crisis,
The WHR is based on the primary measures Western Europe and other western industrial
of subjective well-being;9 life evaluations;10 life countries; or by some combination of the financial
satisfaction;11 and happiness with life as a whole.12 crisis, and political and social instability, as in the
Thus, happiness, appears twice, once as an emotional Middle East and North Africa.
report, and once as part of a life evaluation, giving
considerable evidence about the nature and causes of The HDR Linkage
happiness in both its major senses. The WHR 2013 investigated the conceptual
and empirical relationships between ‘human
Trends in Happiness
development’ (the UNDP idea used in the
The report presents data for the world showing Human Development Report) and ‘life evaluation’
the levels, explanations, changes and equality approaches to understanding human progress.
of happiness. The world has become a slightly It argues that both approaches were, at least in
happier and more generous place over the part, motivated by a desire to consider progress
past five years, despite the obvious detrimental and development in ways that went beyond the
happiness impacts of the financial crisis (2007– mere comparison of GDPs, and to put people at
08), as per the report. Because of continuing the centre. And while ‘human development’ is at
improvements in most supports for better lives in heart a conceptual approach, and ‘life evaluation’
Sub-Saharan Africa, and of continued convergence
an empirical one, there is considerable overlap in
9. Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, practice—many aspects of human development
OECD, Paris, 2013. are frequently used as key variables to explain
10. Used in the World Values Survey, the European Social subjective well-being. The two approaches provide
Survey and many other national and international
surveys. It is the core ‘life evaluation’ question
complementary lenses which enrich our ability to
recommended by the OECD (2013), and used since assess whether life is getting better.
the first World Happiness Report.
11. The Gallup World Poll (GWP) – the GWP includes Conclusion
the ‘life satisfaction’ question on a 0 to 10 scale on an
experimental asis, giving a sample sufficiently large At the end, it may be concluded that there is now
to show that when used with consistent samples the two a rising worldwide demand that policy be more
questions provide mutually supportive information on closely aligned with what really matters to people
the size and relative importance of the correlates.
as they themselves characterise their lives. In past
12. The European Social Survey contains questions
about ‘happiness with life as a whole’, and about life few years, more and more world leaders (such as
satisfaction, both on the same 0 to 10 numerical scale. the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, South
he responses provide the scientific ase to support the Korean President Park Geun-hye and British
H findings that answers to the two questions give
consistent (and mutually supportive) information about Prime Minister David Cameron) have been
the correlates of a good life. talking about the importance of well-being as a