National Happiness at a Time of Economic Growth: A Tracking Study Based on CGSS Data

Abstract

In order to respond to the ongoing debate over the Chinese people’s sense of happiness and to assess the effects of macro-economic and policy changes on the life of ordinary people over the past decade, this study employs data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) to analyze the development and trends in the happiness (or subjective well-being) of the Chinese people over this period. Based on 5 time points and 44,166 samples, the study finds that the Chinese people’s sense of happiness has risen steadily over the past decade, and that groups with different political affiliations, household registration, age, income, marital status and ethnicity have all witnessed, to varying degrees, a growing sense of happiness. Economic growth may be the crucial driving force here; if the economy contracts, people’s sense of happiness may also fall. To maintain the coordinated development of the economy and society, more numerous and more detailed follow-up research on happiness needs to be conducted.