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Social Development and Happiness in nations 1990-2010. Ruut Veenhoven Erasmus University Rotterdam Presentation at Conference Taking Stock: Measuring Social Development International Institute of Social Studies December 14-15 2011, The Hague, Netherlands. Social development and Happiness.
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Social Development and Happiness in nations 1990-2010 Ruut VeenhovenErasmus University Rotterdam Presentation at Conference Taking Stock: Measuring Social Development International Institute of Social Studies December 14-15 2011, The Hague, Netherlands
Social development and Happiness • The issue • Social development • Happiness • Does social development foster happiness? • Independent of economic development? • More so than economic development?
The issue • Disenchantment with primacy of economic development • Call for more emphasis onsocial development • Expectation that social developmentmatters more for happiness
Questions • Social development linked to happiness? • level • change • Independent of economicdevelopment? • More so than economic development?
Social development • Not societaldevelopmentin macro-sociological sense • Degree to which social life in contemporary societies fits ideals of: • involvement • connectedness • equality Also called ‘social capital’
Happiness • Concept • Measurement • Differences across nations • Trends over time
Measurement of happinessExample of a survey question Taking all together, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dissatisfied Satisfied
Happiness in nations2000-2009 • Denmark 8,3 • Netherlands 7,6 • USA 7,4 • France 6,6 • Russia 5,5 • Iraq 4,7 • Zimbabwe 3,0
Gains happiness 1973-2010, scale 0-10 • Italy + 0,63 • Denmark + 0,55 • USA + 0,29 • France + 0,55 • UK + 0,26 • Netherlands + 0,26 • Japan + 0,20
Social development happiness? • Comparison across nations • Comparison over time, within nations Data set: States of nations. Part of World Database of Happiness
Social development happiness?Across nations: Civic activism
Social development happiness?Across nations:Intergroup cohesion
Social development happiness?Across nations:Clubs and Associations
Social development happiness?Across nations: InterpersonalS+T
Social development happiness?Across nations: Gender equality
Social development happiness?Comparison across nations 2010
Social development happiness?Comparison over time 1990-2010
Social development happiness?Across nations:Clubs and Associations
Social development happiness?Comparison over time 1990-2010
Social development happiness?Independent of economic development?
More so than economic development? • Comparison across nations 2010 • Comparison over time 1990-2010
More so than economic development?Across nations: Buying power p/c
More so than economic development?Over time: Buying power p/c
Social development happiness?Conclusions • No clear relation with- Intergroup cohesion- Clubs- associations- Safety –Trust • Consistent relation with:- Civic Activism- Gender Equality • Partly independent of economic development • No stronger than economic development
World Database of Happiness http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl