Inequality of Happiness in Nations by year in data file ‘Trends in Nations’

Inequality of happiness is the degree to which citizens in a country differ in how much they like the life they live.
This difference is expressed in the standard deviation (SD) of responses to single questions about happiness in general population surveys. This concept and the statistic are discussed in Kalmijn, W. & Veenhoven, R. Measuring inequality of happiness in nations. In search for proper statistics.
Time series of at least 20 years and 10 data points
Links in the left hand column lead to a listing of scores on this measure of happiness in different nations
Links in the column ‘nation’ lead to scores on all measures of happiness in that nation.

*Happiness variant* Equivalent measure type	*Question* variant(s)	*Variable* *Code* (1)	*Nation*	*Since*
Happiness
3-step	O-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa/ai/d/f/j	SD-hl3_fr	France	1947
	O-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa/ab/d/f	SD-hl3_it	Italy	1965
	O-HL-c-sq-v-3-a/ab	SD-hl3_lu	Luxembourg	1975
	O-HL-c-sq-v-3-a/aa/ab/d/f/j	SD-hl3_uk	UK	1965
	O-HL-c/g-sq-v-3-a/aa/ab/d/f/l	SD-hl3_us	USA	1946
	O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/f	SD-hl4_no	Norway	1981
	O-HL-c/u-sq-v-4-a/f/o	SD-hl4_pl	Poland	1990
	O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/aa/ga/b/f/h	SD-hl4_ru	Russia	1989
	O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/aa/b/f	SD-hl4-_us	USA	1946
5-step	O-HL-u-sq-v-5-a/d	SD-hl5_nl	Netherlands	1977
	O-HL-c/u-sq-v-5-a/d/g	SD-hl5_za	South Africa	1983

Life satisfaction
2-step	O-SLP-g-sq-v-2-b	SD-ls2_us	USA	1973
4-step	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_ar	Argentina	1997
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_at	Austria	1995
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_be	Belgium	1973
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_bo	Bolivia	1997
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_br	Brazil	1997
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_cl	Chile	1997
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_co	Columbia	1997
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_cr	Costa Rica	1997
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_dk	Denmark	1973
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_sv	El Salvador	1997
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_eq	Equador	1997
	O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_ee	Estonia	2001
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_fi	Finland	1990
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_fr	France	1973
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_de	Germany (re-united)	1990
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_gr	Greece	1981
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_hn	Honduras	1997
	O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_hu	Hungary	2001
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_ie	Ireland	1973
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_it	Italy	1973
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-a/e/f	SD-ls4a_jp	Japan	1958
	O-SLW-c-sq-4-e	SD-ls4b_jp	Japan	1992
	Mean ls4a_jp and ls4b_jp	SD-ls4_jp	Japan	1958
	O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_lv	Latvia	2001
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_mx	Mexico	1997
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_nl	Netherlands	1973
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_ni	Nicaragua	1991
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_pa	Panama	1997
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_py	Paraguay	1997
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_pe	Peru	1997
	O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_pl	Poland	2001
	O-SLL-g/u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_pt	Portugal	1985
	O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-b/d	SD-ls4_ro	Romania	1998
	O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/aa/ga/b/f/h	SD-ls4_ru	Russia	1991
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_sp	Spain	1985
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_se	Sweden	2001
	O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-b	SD-ls4_uk	UK (Great Britain)	1973
	O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dc	SD-ls4_ve	Venezuela	1997
	O-HL-u-sq-v-5-a/d/g	SD-ls5_nl	Netherlands	1974
	O-HL-c/u-sq-v-5-a	SD-ls5_za	South Africa	1981
4+5 step	Mean ls4_jp and ls5_jp	SD-ls45_pj	Japan	1958
10-step	O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-	SD-ls10_ca	Canada	1982
	O-SLW/SLL-c/u-sq-n-10-a/aa/c/l	SD-ls10_nl	Netherlands	1981
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a/aa/g/l	SD-ls10_ru	Russia	1990
11-step	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/d/ca	SD-ls11_au	Australia	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_be	Belgium	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_dk	Denmark	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/ba/cg/cj/d	SD-ls11_ge	Germany	1984
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/cc/cd	SD-ls11_fi	Finland	1976
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd	SD-ls11_fr	France	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj/g	SD-ls11_hu	Hungary	1992
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj	M-ls11_is	Iceland	2004
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj/eb	SD-ls11_ir	Ireland	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_it	Italy	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a	SD-ls11_jp	Japan	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_lu	Luxembourg	1975
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_nl	Netherlands	1974
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_no	Norway	1981
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd	SD-ls11_pl	Poland	1990
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_ro	Romania	1990
	O-SLu/SLW-c/g/u-sq-n-11-a/b/c/d	SD-ls11_za	South Africa	1981
	O-SLu/SLW-c/g-sq-n-11-a/c/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_sp	Spain	1981
		SD-ls11_se	Sweden	1982
	O-SLu/SLW-c/g-sq-n-11-bb/cc/cd/cj	SD-ls11_ch	Switzerland	1976
	O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/c/cc/cj/ka	SD-ls11_uk	UK (Great Britain)	1974
	O-SLP/SLW-c/u-sq-n-11-a/b/bb/e/ka	SD-ls11_us	USA	1946

Best-Worst possible life
11-step	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11_br	Brazil	1960
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-ca	Canada	1975
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-eg	Egypt	1960
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-fr	France	1975
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-in	India	1962
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-it	Italy	1975
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-jp	Japan	1962
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-mx	Mexico	1975
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-ng	Nigeria	1963
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-pa	Panama	1962
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11_ph	Philippines	1959
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/c	SD-bw11-pl	Poland	1962
	C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a	SD-bw11_us	USA	1959

Delighted-Terrible Life
7-step	O-DT-u-sq-v-7-a	SD-dt7_pl	Poland	1991

1) Variable codes consist of three elements:
– Mean (M) happiness in the nation
– Measure type (e.g. ‘ls4’ for a single question on life-satisfaction rated on a 4-step response scale).
Coding explained here.
– Nation code (two digit ISO code e.g., ‘be’ for Belgium)

2) Means are transformed to range 0-10. Method explained here
Ratings on verbal response scale are transformed using fixed values for response options, which neutralizes differences in response options used, such as ‘very happy’and ‘happy’

Same variable in data file ‘States of nations’ Happiness

Back to What is this data file Trends in nations?

The World Database of Happiness is based in the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organization EHERO