A Global Projection of Subjective Well-being

EarthPulse by National Geographic is a visual guide to global trends, online at http://nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse. It explores our complex connections with vivid and informative imagery, maps, diagrams, and interactives to illuminate where we are today, how we got here, and how our actions may affect the future of life on Earth. The very first issue of EarthPulse features a global map of subjective well-being (SWB). A ranking of the world’s happiest places is given on the right. The data on SWB was extracted from a meta-analysis by Marks, Abdallah, Simms & Thompson in 2006. It is immediately evident that there is an effect of poverty on levels of SWB. The map itself mirrors other projections of poverty and Gross Domestic Product. White compared the data on SWB with 2005 data on access to education provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2005 health data made available by the United Nations (UN), and 2006 poverty data downloaded from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It was found that SWB correlates most strongly with health (.7), closely followed by wealth (.6), and access to basic education (.6). This adds to the evidence that from a global perspective the biggest causes of SWB are poverty and associated variables.

Subjective well being seems to correlate with health, wealth, and access to basic education.