Analysis on the Relationships on the Global Distribution of the World Happiness Index and Selected Economic Development Indicators

Abstract

World Happiness Index generally indicates the level of happiness and sat-isfaction among the residents in a given country. This study was conducted to assess the relationships of the world happiness index (WHI) and related economic development indicators consisting of the variables of life expec-tancy (LE), expected years in schooling (EY), gross national income per capita (GNI) and the corruption perception index (CPI) of selected countries which were retrieved from online resources. Two separate cluster analysis was conducted on the 78 countries, and the five variables studied. The first results revealed 50 countries were assigned to cluster 1, 20 states to cluster 2, two countries in the group, and the final six countries in cluster 4. The poor performing countries representing cluster 1 were again subjected to a second cluster analysis test. The indicative results of the analysis showed a significant improvement in the grouping of countries. Group 1 has now 23 states, cluster 2 with 14 countries, and cluster 3 with 13 countries. The results of the two separate clustering analysis conducted yielded not a single group dominated as the best performing cluster in terms of the economic variables. However, cluster 1 considered the poor performing cluster during the two tests, remained consistent. In conclusion, the study claimed that the “Quality of Life” largely depends on the performance of countries based on the given economic indices.