Aims
Accumulation of scientific knowledge on happiness, in order to provide a basis for informed decisions by individuals and organizations.
Approach
- Gathering all the empirical research findings on happiness and presenting these in an easy to overview standardized way.
- Updating this collection continuously, thus providing a basis for ongoing research syntheses.
- Using the collection for synthesis of research findings on happiness and particular topics, such as private wealth, and updating these reviews periodically.
Technique
Findings are described in a standard format and terminology on electronic finding pages. These pages are stored in an online findings-archive where they can be selected and sorted in various ways.
The technique allows for a new way of research reviewing, in which links to online pages with full detail are used.
Example: Happiness in transgender people: A research synthesis using an online findings-archive
Collections
The World Database of Happiness consists of the following collections, which can be browsed on the website:
Contents by December 1, 2024
- Bibliography: 17074 publications in Bibliography of Happiness, of which 8.843 report an empirical study that is eligible for inclusion in the findings archive
- Measures of happiness: 2.930 measures of happiness, mostly single survey questions varying in wording and response scale
- Distributional findings: 24.515 distributional findings
- Correlational findings: 24.413 correlational findings.
Reports
The following reports are generated automatically
- Single nation reports: Selection of all findings in a particular nation. Example Netherlands
- Multiple nation reports. Selection of distributional findings in nations
sorted by measure type and within measure type by year - Rank reports on happiness in nations
- Trend reports on happiness in nations
Website
https://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl
Users since start in 1998 added in 2024
- Page views ± 30.000.000 ± 3.000.000 (10%)
- Of which end users ± 1.500.000
- Citations (Google Scholar) 4.080 35
- Media mentions (Nexis Uni) 1.008 414
The number of page views was around 3 million in 2024. About half of the views is made automatically by indexing systems. The number of page views by end-users was about one-and-a half-million, which equals some 10% of all visits since start in 1998. If user numbers were equally distributed over the years since 1998, we could expect some 5% yearly rise and in that light the observed 10% marks a continued growth n usage
The increasing use of the database seems to be due to the:
– improved website; look and search options
– use of links to finding pages in the database used in reports of research syntheses.
– rise of happiness research
Additions since start in 1998 added in 2024
Publications in bibliography 17.074 898
- Of which report an eligible study 8.843 471
- Measures of Happiness used in these studies 2.930 15
- Distributional findings
- In places (nations, regions) 21.788 149
- In publics other than general 2.727 38
- Correlational findings 24.413 319
- Categories in classifications
- In bibliography 2.237 142
- In correlational findings 5.375 60
- In publics other than general 236 1
Software
More efficient entry of publications in happiness in the Bibliography is now possible using an Excell application developed by Jos Richters.
Website
- The new website was launched in August 2020 and was further improved in 2021 and 2022.
- The re-design being completed, old website was closed in the spring 2023
- The current website was closed for further additions when the founder passed away in December 2024. The last version named WDH version 1 is kept online by the Library of Erasmus University Rotterdam at the old address http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl
- Fellow happiness investigators can build on this source, as explained on https://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/how-to-build-on-this-database/
Publications in 2024 based on the World Database of Happiness
- Gendergelijkheid vergroot geluk van iedereen
Sociale Vraagstukken: https://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/
with Ad Bergsma - School education and happiness: Schooling as such does not seem to add to happiness
Optentia Newsletter 14 (2) p. 26 - Education and happiness: lower at the micro level of individuals than at the macro level of nations
In: Magalhães, L., Ferreira Lopes, M.J., Nobre, B., Onofre Pinto, J.C. (eds) Humanistic Perspectives in Happiness Research. Happiness Studies Book Series. Springer, Cham. Switzerland https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38600-8_10
With: Angela Leite (first author) Anna Costa and Paulo Diaz - Happiness in urban environments: What we know and do not know yet
Journal of Housing and Build Environment, DOI 10.1007/s10901-024-10119-4
With Sahar Samavati (first author) - Does happiness foster social bonds? A research synthesis using an online findings archive
Journal of Happiness Studies
with Nidhi Sharma and Shriti Agrawal. - Growing knowledge about happiness
In: Leo Bormans (Ed.) The New World book of Happiness, Lanno publishers,Tielt, Belgium - In pursuit of greater happiness for a greater number: A personal account
Cornelia C. Walther (Ed.) Handbook of Quality of life and social change. Series International Handbooks of Quality of life. Springer Cham, Switzerland 2024 19 pages.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39507-9_29 (Update working paper 2015b) - Did average happiness in nations change over the years?
In: Well-Being Across the Globe – New Perspectives, Concepts, Correlates and Geography. Edited by Jasneth Mullings, Tomlin Paul, Leith Dunn, Sage Arbor, Julie Meeks-Gardner and Tafline Arbor. Intech Open 2024 Open Access, Chapter 3, pp 39-63. DOI:10.5772/intechopen.104197, ISBN 978-1-83768-584-4. With Silke Kegel - World Database of Happiness: A findings archive
In Hilke Brockmann & Roger Fernandez-Urbano. (Eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life, Edgar 2024 pp 25-45 - Schooling does not add to your personal happiness, but adds to average happiness of all
In: Hilke Brockmann & Roger Fernandez-Urbano. (Eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Subjective Wellbeing, Chapter 14 pp.107-114 Edward Edgar Publishing Cheltenham. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800. with Angela Leite (first author), Anna Costa and Paolo Dias - World Database of happiness: Use for comparing across cultures
In Selin, H & Davey, G. (Eds.) Happiness across cultures - Does happiness differ across cultures?
In Selin, H & Davey, G. (Eds.) Happiness across cultures - Collected works by Ruut Veenhoven, Preliminary version
On website foundation for the study of Happiness: https://stichtingstudiegeluk.site/
With Tijn Veenhoven
Accepted for publication in 2025
- How to take stock of research findings on happiness in regions: Using the World Database of Happiness
In Applied Research ij Quality of Life - Charting Happiness in Nations
International Journal of Happiness and Development IJHD
Editor of special issue together with Sergiu Baltatescu - Happiness in South-Africa
In: Ruut Veenhoven & Sergiu Baltatescu (Eds) Happiness in Nations, Special Issue of the International Journal of Happiness and Development IJHD. With Elizabeth Bothma
Under Review
- What is happiness economics all about?
With Shruti Agrawal (first author) and Nidhi Sharma: nidhis.hum@mnit.ac.in - Will working after retirement make you happy?
With Susan Ho and Jenny Wang-Chen Hsu: - How the COVID-19 epidemic affected life-satisfaction in the Netherlands
With Emma Pleeging (pleeging@ese.eur.nl) and Martijn Burger
In preparation by co-authors
- Happiness of home-makers: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Shoirakhon Nurdinova:sh.nurdinova@gmail.com - Happiness and use of drugs: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Valerie McGaha:valerie.mcgaha@okstate.edu - Effect of family policies on happiness: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Bekir Celic: bekircelik38@gmail.com - Happiness in rural environments: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Antje Jantsch (first author) Jantsch@iamo.de - Happiness of elderly migrants: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Esra Karatas (first author) esrkar@gmail.com - Demise of the Easterlin Paradox: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Hatime Kalacelebi (first author, ka.hatime@gmail.com) and Martijn Burger (mburger@ese.eur.nl) - Happiness in transgender people: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Jos Veenhoven (first author) josveenhoven@hotmail.com - Happiness in single mothers: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Susanne Elzas (first author) susanne.elsas@ifb.uni-bamberg.de - Specification of the ‘Happy-Productive-Worker’ thesis’. Which kinds of satisfaction boost productivity most? A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Renaud Gaucher renaudgaucher@gmail.com and Martijn Burger (mburger@ese.eur.nl) - Happiness and productivity at work. A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Yeshen Fang (yizhenfang0118@gmail.com) and Martijn Burger (mburger@ese.eur.nl) - Happiness and school education: A research synthesis using an online findings archive
To be finished by Arceli Perez-Garcia, aracelip@ual.es
- Collected works by Ruut Veenhoven, Final version
To be finished by Tijn Veenhoven (first author, tijnveenhoven@gmail.com) and Martijn Burger (mburger@ese.eur.nl)
- Happiness and mental health care in nations
To be finished by Daan-Max Van Dongen: daanvd96@gmail.com - Happiness in build environments: Difference between beliefs of architects and empirical findings
To be finished by Sahar Samavati: s.architect00@gmail.com
People:
Home team
- 8 persons, all volunteers.
- Together about 2,0 fte. in 2024.
- External associates
- 32 of which 18 were active in 2024
- 1 new associate joined in 2024 (Daan-Max Van Dngen)
- Guests:
- Dr. Hatime Kalimcelebi, from Turkey on effect of economic growth on happiness
- Dr. Arceli Perez-Garcia, from Spain on effect of education on happiness
- Annegeke Jansen, From Leiden University on trend in Happy Life Years
- IT support: incidental support for website maintenance by Phillip Brands: philip.brands@eur.nl) Ferry de Groot (ferry.degroot@eur.nl) Rob vanden Bos (rob.vandenbos@eur.nl) Reinder Schuitemaker (reinder.schuitemaker@eur.nl)
- Hosting: Preparation for storing of version 1 in the university library by Jos Westerbeke(jos.westerbeke@eur.nl)
Planning for 2025
- The database will be closed for further additions and be saved as WDH version1, on which colleague happiness investigators can build, as explained in https://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/how-to-build-on-this-database/
- Work on the Bibliography of happiness continues, with the aim of complete inclusion of all scientific publications on happiness in the sense of life-satisfaction upto and including 2020. Colleague happiness investigators can then limit their literature searches to publications after 2020 and need not go again into the selection of publication on which we have spend thousands of years of work since the first Bibliography of Happiness in 1984
- Adding all the above in the final version of ‘Collected works by Ruut Veenhoven’ and saving that document in a) the repository of the university library of Erasmus University Rotterdam (contact Jos Westerbeke jos.westerbeke@eur.nl) and b) the website of the Foundation for the study of Happiness (https://stichtingstudiegeluk.site/).
To be done by Tijn Veenhoven, who will work as a student assistant on behalf of the foundation for the Study of Happinness (Stichting Studie Geluk)