The cleaner the environment, the happier the people: Integrating a nationwide public survey and environmental quality monitoring data in South Korea

Abstract

Environmental studies are eager to prove the contribution of environmental quality (EQ) to happiness, given the recent interest of society in life quality and human well-being. Despite advances in empirical studies testing the relationship between EQ and life satisfaction (LS) at a global, national, and local scale, there is no comprehensive analysis of EQ, satisfaction with the environment (SE), and LS using various EQ parameters. This study tests this relationship by implementing a 5-year public survey on awareness and attitudes towards the evnironment with nationwide air and water quality data. Ordered probit models proved that NO2, PM10, and the comprehensive air-quality index concentrations are related to satisfaction with air quality, combined with the impacts of respondents’ pro-environmental attitude, property, and size of the residential area, whereas SO2, O3, and CO concentrations were ineffective. Total phosphorous was the only water quality parameter significant to satisfaction with water. Structural equation modelling proved that LS was affected by objective EQ through both direct and indirect paths via SE. We estimated the marginal effects of EQ improvement on SE. Understanding the relationship between EQ, SE, and LS can support decision-making in environmental management and public health programmes at the individual to policy levels. This study provides an improved approach and observations on this topic.