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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)NationSince
Happiness
3-stepO-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa/ai/d/f/jSD-hl3_frFrance1947
O-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa/ab/d/fSD-hl3_itItaly1965
O-HL-c-sq-v-3-a/abSD-hl3_luLuxembourg1975
O-HL-c-sq-v-3-a/aa/ab/d/f/jSD-hl3_ukUK1965
O-HL-c/g-sq-v-3-a/aa/ab/d/f/lSD-hl3_usUSA1946
O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/fSD-hl4_noNorway1981
O-HL-c/u-sq-v-4-a/f/oSD-hl4_plPoland1990
O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/aa/ga/b/f/hSD-hl4_ruRussia1989
O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/aa/b/fSD-hl4-_usUSA1946
5-stepO-HL-u-sq-v-5-a/dSD-hl5_nlNetherlands1977
O-HL-c/u-sq-v-5-a/d/gSD-hl5_zaSouth Africa1983
Life satisfaction
2-stepO-SLP-g-sq-v-2-bSD-ls2_usUSA1973
4-stepO-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_arArgentina1997
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_atAustria1995
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_beBelgium1973
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_boBolivia1997
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_brBrazil1997
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_clChile1997
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_coColumbia1997
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_crCosta Rica1997
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_dkDenmark1973
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_svEl Salvador1997
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_eqEquador1997
O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_eeEstonia2001
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_fiFinland1990
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_frFrance1973
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_deGermany (re-united)1990
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_grGreece1981
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_hnHonduras1997
O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_huHungary2001
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_ieIreland1973
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_itItaly1973
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-a/e/fSD-ls4a_jpJapan1958
O-SLW-c-sq-4-eSD-ls4b_jpJapan1992
Mean ls4a_jp and ls4b_jpSD-ls4_jpJapan1958
O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_lvLatvia2001
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_mxMexico1997
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_nlNetherlands1973
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_niNicaragua1991
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_paPanama1997
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_pyParaguay1997
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_pePeru1997
O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_plPoland2001
O-SLL-g/u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_ptPortugal1985
O-SLL/SLW-u-sq-v-4-b/dSD-ls4_roRomania1998
O-HL-c/g/u-sq-v-4-a/aa/ga/b/f/hSD-ls4_ruRussia1991
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_spSpain1985
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_seSweden2001
O-SLL-u-sq-v-4-bSD-ls4_ukUK (Great Britain)1973
O-SLu-g-sq-v-4-b/c/da/dcSD-ls4_veVenezuela1997
O-HL-u-sq-v-5-a/d/gSD-ls5_nlNetherlands1974
O-HL-c/u-sq-v-5-aSD-ls5_zaSouth Africa1981
4+5 stepMean ls4_jp and ls5_jpSD-ls45_pjJapan1958
10-stepO-SLW-c-sq-n-10-SD-ls10_caCanada1982
O-SLW/SLL-c/u-sq-n-10-a/aa/c/lSD-ls10_nlNetherlands1981
O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a/aa/g/lSD-ls10_ruRussia1990
11-stepO-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/d/caSD-ls11_auAustralia1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_beBelgium1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_dkDenmark1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/ba/cg/cj/dSD-ls11_geGermany1984
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/cc/cdSD-ls11_fiFinland1976
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cdSD-ls11_frFrance1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj/gSD-ls11_huHungary1992
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cjM-ls11_isIceland2004
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cj/ebSD-ls11_irIreland1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_itItaly1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-aSD-ls11_jpJapan1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_luLuxembourg1975
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_nlNetherlands1974
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_noNorway1981
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cdSD-ls11_plPoland1990
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_roRomania1990
O-SLu/SLW-c/g/u-sq-n-11-a/b/c/dSD-ls11_zaSouth Africa1981
O-SLu/SLW-c/g-sq-n-11-a/c/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_spSpain1981
SD-ls11_seSweden1982
O-SLu/SLW-c/g-sq-n-11-bb/cc/cd/cjSD-ls11_chSwitzerland1976
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-a/bb/c/cc/cj/kaSD-ls11_ukUK (Great Britain)1974
O-SLP/SLW-c/u-sq-n-11-a/b/bb/e/kaSD-ls11_usUSA1946
Best-Worst possible life
11-stepC-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11_brBrazil1960
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-caCanada1975
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-egEgypt1960
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-frFrance1975
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-inIndia1962
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-itItaly1975
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-jpJapan1962
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-mxMexico1975
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-ngNigeria1963
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-paPanama1962
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11_phPhilippines1959
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-a/cSD-bw11-plPoland1962
C-BW-c-sq-l-11-aSD-bw11_usUSA1959
Delighted-Terrible Life
7-stepO-DT-u-sq-v-7-aSD-dt7_plPoland1991

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