Overview of data on happiness in nations

1) Nations   A     B    C    D    E    F     G    H    I    J     K    L    M    N    P    R    S     T    U    V    Z
2) Happiness variables   

Nations where happiness was assessed in samples of the general population
Items that were asked at least once during an era

NATION ERA
Code Name late 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s early 2000s 2010s
AL Albania hl 4
ls 10
DZ Algeria hl 4
ls 10
AO Angola bw 11
AR Argentina

ls 10		 abs
bw 11
hl 4
ls 4, 10		 bw 11

ls 4
AM Armenia hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 4
AU Australia hl 3
ls 3		 abs
bw 11
dt 7
hl  3, 5
ls  3, 5, 11		 abs

dt 7, 8
hl 3, 4
ls 10		 hl4
ls 10
AT Austria

ls 11

ls 5, 10		 abs
hl 4, 5
ls 3, 4, 5, 10
hl 4
ls 4, 11
AZ Azarbaijan hl 4
ls 10
BD Bangladesh  
hl 4
ls 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
BY Belarus abs
hl 4
 abs
hl 4
ls 10
hl 4
ls 4, 10
BE Belgium
hl 3
ls 4, 11
 abs
hl 3, 4
ls 4, 10, 11
 abs
hl 4, 5
ls 4, 5, 10, 11, 101
ls 4
BO Bolivia
ls 4		 bw 11
ls 4
BA Bosnia-Herzogowina hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 10
BR Brazil bw 11

 bw 11
hl 3
ls 5, 11		 hl 5
hl 4
ls 4, 10		 bw 11

ls 4
BG Bulgaria
hl 4
ls 3, 10		 bw 11

ls 4
CA Canada hl 3, 4

ls 3		 bw 11
hl 3, 5
ls 4, 5, 11		 abs

hl 4
ls 4, 10		 abs

hl 4
ls 4, 10
bw 11
hl 4
ls 4, 10
CL Chile hl 4
ls 4, 10		 hl 4
ls 4, 10
CN China abs
bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
bw11
hl 4
ls 10
CO Colombia hl 4
ls 4, 10
ls 4
CR Costa Rica ls 4 ls 4
HR Croatia bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
CU Cuba bw 11
CZ Czechia
hl 3, 4
ls 10		 bw 11

ls 4
CS Czechoslovakia
(until 1993)		 abs
hl 4
ls 7, 10
DK Denmark

ls 4
hl 3, 4
ls 4, 11		 abs
hl 3, 4
ls 4, 10, 11		 abs
hl 4, 5
ls 4, 10		  

ls 4, 10
DO Dominican Republic bw11
hl 4
ls 10
EC Ecuador ls 4 ls 4
EG Egypt

bw 11

 bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
SV El Salvador hl 4
ls 4, 10
ls 4
EE Estonia abs
hl 4
ls 10

ls 4
FI Finland  

ls 4
hl 4
ls 11
hl 4
ls 10		 abs
hl 4
ls 4, 5, 10
hl 4
ls 4, 10
FR France

hl 3, 4
ls 3
hl 3
bw 11
hl 3, 5
ls 4, 5, 11		 abs

hl 3, 4
ls 4, 10, 11		 abs

hl 4, 5
ls 4, 10
bw 11

ls 4
GE Georgia hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 4
D(w) West Germany
(untill 1990)

ls 3		 bw 11
hl 3
 hl 3 abs
bw 11
hl 3, 4, 5
ls 4, 5, 11
 abs

hl 3, 4
ls 4, 10, 11
 abs

hl 3, 4, 5
ls 4, 7, 10, 11

ls 4, 11
DDR East Germany
(untill 1990)		 abs
hl 3, 4
ls 4, 7, 10, 11

ls 11
D Germany
(reunited since 1990)
hl 4
ls 4, 10, 11		 bw 11

ls 4
GH Ghana
hl 4
ls 10		 bw 11
GB Great Britain

hl 3, 4
ls 3
hl 3
bw 11
hl 3, 5
ls 4, 5, 11		 abs

hl 3, 4
ls 4, 10, 11		 abs

hl 4, 5
ls 4, 7, 10
bw 11

ls 4
GR Greece   hl 3
ls 4, 11		 hl 4
ls 4, 5, 10
ls 4
GT Guatemala
ls 4		 bw 11
ls 4
HN Honduras
ls 4		 bw 11
ls 4
HU Hungary abs
hl 4
ls 10
 abs
hl 4
ls 3, 7, 10, 11
ls 4
IS Iceland abs
hl 4
ls 10		 abs
hl 4
ls 10
hl 4
ls 10
IN India
bw 11
bw 11
hl 3, 5
ls 5, 11		 abs

hl 4
ls 10
bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
ID Indonesia bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
IR Iran hl 4
ls 10
IE Ireland
hl 3
ls 4, 11		 abs
hl 3, 4
ls 4, 10, 11		 abs
hl 4, 5
ls 4, 10		 hl 4
ls 4
IL Israel bw 11

 bw 9
hl 4
hl 4
ls 10
IT Italy  


ls 3

 hl 3 bw11
hl 3, 5
ls 4, 5, 11		 abs

hl 3, 4
ls 4, 10, 11
 abs

hl 4, 5
ls 4, 5, 10, 11, 101
bw 11

ls 4, 10
CI Ivory Coast bw 11
JP Japan



ls 4
bw 11


ls 4
bw 11
hl 3, 5
FH 10
ls 4, 5, 11		 abs

hl 3, 4
FH 10
ls 4, 5, 10		 abs

hl 4
FH 10
ls 4, 5, 7, 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 5, 10
JO Jordan bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
KE Kenya bw 11
?? Kyrgyzigstan
ls 5		 hl 4
ls 4
LV Latvia abs
hl 4
ls 10

ls 4
LB Lebanon bw 11
LT Lithuania abs
hl 4
ls 10

ls 4
LU Luxembourg hl 3
ls 4, 11		 hl 3
ls 4, 11		 hl 4, 5
ls 4, 10
ls 4
MK Macedonia hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 10
MY Malaysia hl 3
ML Mali bw11
MT Malta hl 4
ls 4, 10
ls 4
MX Mexico


ls 3
bw 11
hl 3
ls 11		 abs

hl 4
ls 10		 abs

hl 4
ls 4, 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 4, 10
MD Moldova hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 4, 10
?? Montenegro hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 10
MA Morocco hl 4
ls 10
NL Netherlands hl 3 fh 3
hl 3
 hl 3, 5
ls 4, 5, 11		 abs

hl 3, 5
ls 4, 5, 10, 11		 abs
fh 3
hl 3, 5
ls 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 101
hl 5
ls 4, 5
NZ New Zealand hl 4
ls 10
NI Nicaragua ls 4 ls 4
NG Nigeria bw 11
hl 4
ls 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
N Norway hl 3
ls 3		 hl 4
 abs
hl 4
ls 10
 abs
hl 4
ls 4, 5, 10, 11
PK Pakistan
hl 4
ls 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
PA Panama bw 11
ls 4
ls 4
PY Paraguay ls 4 ls 4
PE Peru
hl 4
ls 4, 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 4,10
PH Phillipines bw 11
hl 3
hl 5
hl 4
ls 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
PL Poland
bw 11


ls 5		 abs
bw 11

hl 4
ls 10

dt 7
hl 3, 4
ls 3, 7, 10
bw 11
dt 7
hl 3, 4
ls 4
PT Portugal
hl 3
ls 4		 abs
hl 4, 5
ls 4, 10

ls 4
PR Puerto Rico hl 3 hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 10
RO Romania abs
hl 4
ls 3, 5, 10
hl 4
ls 4
SU Russia abs

hl 4
ls 4, 5, 10, 11, 101

 bw 11
hl 4
ls 4
SN Senegal bw 11
YU Serbia hl 4
ls 10		 hl 4
ls 10
SG Singapore hl 5
ls 5		 hl 4
ls 10
SK Slovakia
hl 4
ls 3, 10		 bw 11

ls 4, 10
SI Slovenia bw 11
 abs

hl 4
ls 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 101
ls 4
ZA South Africa
hl 3		 abs

hl 4, 5
ls 5, 10		 abs

hl 4, 5
ls 10
bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
KR South Korea
hl 5
ls 5		 bw 11
hl 3, 4
ls 10, 11
hl 4
ls 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
ES Spain abs
hl 3
ls 4, 10		 abs
hl 4
ls 4, 5, 10
hl 4
ls 4, 11
SE Sweden hl 4 abs
hl 4, 5
ls 7		 abs
hl 4, 5
ls 4, 10, 11
hl 4
ls 4, 11
CH Switzerland hl 3 bw 1
hl 3
ls 11
hl 4
ls 10
hl 4
ls 10
hl 4
ls 11
TW Taiwan hl 4
ls 5, 10		 hl 3, 4
ls 4
TZ Tanzania bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
TH Tailand hl 3
TR Turkey abs

hl 4
ls 10
bw 11
hl 4
ls 4, 10
UG Uganda bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
UA Ukraine
hl 4
ls 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 4
UY Uruguay hl 4
ls 4, 10
ls 4
US United States of America


hl 3, 4
ls 3


hl 3, 4
ls 11
bw 11

hl 3
 abs
bw 11
dt 7
hl 3, 5
ls 2, 3, 5, 11		 abs
bw 11

hl 3, 4
ls 2, 10		 abs


hl 3, 4
ls 2, 7, 10		 bw 11
UZ Uzbekistan bw 11
VE Venezuela
hl 4
ls 4, 10		 bw 11
hl 4
ls 4, 10
VN Vietnam bw 11
hl 4
ls 10
YU Great Yugoslavia
(untill 1992)		 bw 11
ZW Zimbabwe hl 4
ls 4, 10
Number of nations where happiness was assessed in era 10 3 27 25 31 78 90

Characters denote focus of happiness item: abs = Affect Balance Score, bw = Best Worst possible life, dt = Delighted Terrible life, fh = Feel Happy, hl = Happy Life, ls = Life Satisfaction
Numbers denote response options of item
Mentioning means that an item of this kind was used at least once in that era in that country

Happiness variables
Sets of comparable items per era

HAPPINESS ITEM ERA
late 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s early 2000s 2010s

Identical items
  SPSScode N SPSScode N SPSScode N SPSScode N SPSScode N SPSScode N SPSScode N  
Affect Balance             abs_70s 3 abs_80s 24 abs_90s 39 abs_00s 0  
Best-Worst         bw11_60s 17 bw11_70s 12 bw11-80s 3 bw11_90s 1 bw11_00 44  
Happiness, 3-step verbal hl3_40s 7     hl3_60s 9 hl3_70s 18 hl3_80s 15          
Happiness, 4-step verbal                 hl4_80 25 hl4_90s 69 hl4_00 51  
Happiness, 5 step verbal                 hl5_80 16 hl5_90s 18      
Life-satisfaction, 3-step v ls3_48 7                 ls3_91 8      
Life-satisfaction, 4-step v             ls4_70s 10 ls4_80s 14 ls4_90s 40 ls4_00 56  
Life-satisfaction, 5-step v             ls5_70s 13 ls5_80s 16 ls5_90s 10 ls5_00s 2  
Life-satisfaction, 7-step v                     ls7_91 14      
Life-satisfaction, 1-10                 ls10_80s 25 ls10_90s 70 ls10_00s 36  
Life-satisfaction, 0-10             ls11_70s 19 ls11_80s 12 ls11_90s 11 ls11_00s 6  
Life-satisfaction, 0-100                     ls101_90s 5      
 

Combined equivalent items
transformed to a common 0-10 scale, using Thurstone transformation for verbal scales and linear stretch for numerical scales
Happiness transformed 3+4+5 step scale             hlt_70s 23 hlt_80s 29 hlt_90s 74      
Life-satisfaction transformed
4+5 step scales		             lsst_70s 17 lsst_80s 19 lsst_90s 48      
Lifesatisfaction transformed
10+11+101 step scales		                 lslt_80s 27 lslt_90s 70      

Combined non-equivalent items
using regression to estimate the score on one item on the bases of responses to another
Mixed life-satisfaction
Short verbal + long numerical		                     lsmix90s 77      
Life-satisfaction+BestWorst                     lsbw_90s 90      
                               

Detail about variable construction on topic page happiness