Critically Analyzing the World Happiness Report


  Date: 2023
  Author: J. F. Helliwell, Layard, R., Sachs, J. D., Aknin, L. B., De Neve, J.-E., & Wang, S. , eds.
Source: https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/#appendices-and-data
  Domain: Processing Data
  Subdomain: Analyzing Data
  Type of Resource: Activity

This activity invites students to think about the variables included in the World Happiness Report dataset, about the relations between variables, and about the advantages and disadvantages of the authors’ approach to measuring happiness. This exercise is designed to help cultivate habits of critical reflection and to provide practice in data analysis, including reflection on correlation.

Keywords:  World happiness    Global data    Data analysis    Critical reflection  

MLA Citation: Helliwell, John F., et al. ‘World Happiness Report 2023.’ Worldhappiness.report, 20 Mar. 2023, worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/.


Instructor Information:

The World Happiness Report ranks nations based on their citizens’ evaluations of their overall wellbeing. The public data (gathered by the Gallup World Poll) is available on this website (under the heading “Data for Table 2.1”); a description of the variables is available in this appendix. Once students have access to the data on a software platform of your choice, organize them in small groups and have each group work through the following questions. Encourage students to help each other with coding or making the specified calculations on a spreadsheet.

  • Spend some time reviewing the variables as described in the appendix. Ask students to consider the following questions: What kind of variables are included? What is the significance of gauging national wellbeing through primarily subjective measures? How are the various measures defined? Can you think of other possible measures of subjective wellbeing? What is the effect of using the selected variables and not others? Whose perspectives are being privileged by choosing these variables and excluding others?
  • Ask students to measure the correlation between the observations in the “Life Ladder” column–which is the numerical measure of subjective happiness–and each of the additional variables. Which variables are most correlated to the life ladder variable? Which are less strongly correlated?
  • What advantages might there be to focusing on subjective measures of happiness to understanding and attempting to impact development? What might be the advantages to surveys of citizens as opposed to exclusively objective economic measures of national prosperity? What benefits might there be for policy makers using this data, again, instead of relying solely on measures of poverty or economic activity to gauge relative development?
  • What might be some limits of the World Happiness Report’s approach to understanding development? Does it make a difference to understanding the validity of this report that not all cultures or religious traditions value happiness as a subjective state? Is happiness a universally agreed upon state? What potential harms might follow from using this data for policy making?