This report covers all distributional findings on happiness in the general population of nations as reported in the reports on happiness in single nations. These findings are now presented in one report and grouped by the measure of happiness used and within each measure type by nation and year. This presentation facilitates the comparison of happiness between nations and across time, which require that happiness is measured in a comparable way.
Measures of happiness are sorted into types that are similar with respect to the conceptual focus, the method of assessment (self reports) and the answer scale used. Though not fully identical, these measures are considered to be equivalent. The classification of measures of happiness into these categories of equivalent measure type is explained in the Introductory text to the Collection of Measures of Happiness, chapter 5, section 5/6.