Here we will take a quick (and somewhat
rudimentary) look at whether the countries whose citizens earn the
highest incomes are the happiest. That is, is there a link between money
and happiness?
The information in the table at the right is a combination of income per
capita figures from the CIA World Factbook and happiness percentages
compiled by the World Values Survey. The happiness column indicates the
percentage of that country's residents who indicated they were "very
happy" with their overall lives.
The first figure that immediately jumps out is the astoundingly high
percentage of people indicating they are "very happy" with their lives
in Nigeria, a country with an average income per person of just $900
(all income numbers are in U$D). Within the top 20 countries ranked by
happiness level, there are 7 with average incomes below $10,000 per
year.
However, when we look at the data in total, both in the table and as
represented in the graph above, we can see that there is a marked
decrease in the income level when happiness drops below around the
11-12% mark. As the table shows, of the countries towards the bottom of
the list, a majority have per person incomes below the $10,000 mark.
What's interesting here is that there does seem to be an overall
correlation between income and happiness, although the correlation is
significantly less noticeable in the first half of the countries.
Looking at either the table or the chart above, there is no significant
correlation where as income drops, so does happiness. This crude, but
fundamentally valid analysis might suggest that while there is a minimum
standard of living that is necessary in order to be satisfied, or as
this data indicates, "very happy" with one's life, once that minimum
standard is achieved, happiness no longer depend on making $12,000 per
year or $40,000 per year.
I'll add more to this as people send comments and suggestions, which you
can do here.
