Abstract
We propose and test a new model for predicting multiple quantitative measures of well-being globally at the country level based on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), income inequality (Net Gini), and National Happiness Index (NHI; U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network world survey of life satisfaction). HDI consists of per-capita Gross National Income (economic well-being), average life expectancy (proxy for health well-being), and educational attainment (capabilities well-being). Using data on 105 countries representing 95% of the world’s population, a history of grassroots activism (Global Non-violent Action Database), civil liberties and political rights (Freedom Score), political and fiscal decentralization, and voter participation (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) correlate with HDI and NHI. Citizen volunteering (Gallup Civic Engagement Index) predicts only NHI. In multivariate analyses, Freedom Score is the most robust predictor of all well-being measures, including income equality. Fiscal decentralization and voter turnout also predict HDI and NHI, controlling for other influences. Based on prior analyses in the Global Development of Applied Community Studies project, implications and recommendations are discussed for developing community human research and professional resources across 12 disciplines in countries where they are needed based on social justice, citizenship, well-being, inequality, human rights, and other development challenges. We recommend individual and community-level and qualitative analyses of the above predictors’ relationships with these same conceptualizations of well-being, as well as consideration of other social, cultural and political variables and their effect on well-being.
Highlights
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Cultural Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
We propose and test a new model for predicting multiple quantitative measures of wellbeing globally at the country level based on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), income inequality (Net Gini), and National Happiness Index
Based on prior analyses in the Global Development of Applied Community Studies project, implications and recommendations are discussed for developing community human research and professional resources across 12 disciplines in countries where they are needed based on social justice, citizenship, well-being, inequality, human rights, and other development challenges
Summary
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Cultural Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Our purpose is to answer the question: How well do a history of grassroots activism, political and fiscal decentralization, political rights and civil liberties, voter participation, and citizen volunteerism predict three forms and measures of national well-being: human development, income equality, and happiness?. Human Development Index was created by the United Nations Development Program to measure human development, wellness, and quality of life in a society across multiple dimensions It consists of the mean of three components: (1) per capita GNI (as a proxy for material or economic well-being), (2) population life expectancy (as a crude proxy for general health and bodily wellness), and (3) an education index based on averaging the mean years of schooling for adults over 24 years old and expected years of schooling for school-aged children (as a crude proxy for mental development or human capabilities). HDI has become the most widely used and accepted international measure of development, and due to the alternatives lacking complete data, we use the HDI
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