Income is defined as household disposable income in a particular year. It consists of earnings, self-employment and capital income and public cash transfers; income taxes and social security contributions paid by households are deducted. The income of the household is attributed to each of its members, with an adjustment to reflect differences in needs for households of different sizes (i.e. the needs of a household composed of four people are assumed to be twice as large as those of a person living alone).Income inequality among individuals is measured here by five indicators. The Gini Coefficient is based on the comparison of cumulative proportions of the population against cumulative proportions of income they receive, and it ranges between 0 in the case of perfect equality and 1 in the case of perfect inequality. The mean log deviation is the average value of the logarithm of the ratio of mean income to the income of each decile. The squared coefficient of variation is the variance of average income of each decile, divided by the square of the average income of the entire population. The P90/P10 ratio is the ratio of the upper bound value of the ninth decile (i.e. the 10% of people with highest income) to that of the first. The P50/P10 ratio is the ratio of median income to the upper bound value of the first decile. The mean log deviation and inter-decile ratios have a lower value of 1 and no upper bound, while the squared coefficient of variation has a lower bound of 0 and upper bound of infinity.
Most scores are based on responses to the following question: "All things considered, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your life-as-a-whole now? 1 dissatisfied to10 satisfied" (item code O-SLW/c/sq/n/10/a). Scores of ten nations are based on responses to a somewhat different question: "Suppose the top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder the worst possible life. Where on this ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time?" The response was rated on a ladder scale ranging from 0 to 10 (item code O-BW/c/sq/l/11/c). We transformed the scores using the information of nations in which both this item and the above question on life-satisfaction had been used in about the same years.
This data is indicative of how much citizens differ in enjoyment of their life-as-a-whole.Life-satisfaction assessed by means of surveys in samples of the general population. Scores may be too low in some countries, due to under sampling of rural and illiteratepopulation. In this ranking the focus is not on the level of happiness in the country, but on inequality in happiness among citizens.Inequality in happiness can be measured by the dispersion of responses to survey-questions. The degree of dispersion can be expressed statistically in the standard deviation and surveys items rated on a 10 step numerical scale are particularly usefull for that purpose. Most scores are based on responses to the following question: "All things considered, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your life-as-a-whole now? 1 dissatisfied to10 satisfied".
SOURCE:
World Database of Happiness, Happiness in Nations, Rank Report 2004/3b. Equality of happiness in 90 nations 1990-2000. How much citizens differ in enjoyment of their life as a whole
Respondents were asked: "In political matters, people talk of 'the left' and 'the right.' How would you place your views on this scale, generally speaking?" Self-placement on left-right scale (left = 1; 10 = right). This statistic shows the percentage that respondents from each country located themselves at '1'.
Respondents were asked: "In political matters, people talk of 'the left' and 'the right.' How would you place your views on this scale, generally speaking?" Self-placement on left-right scale (left = 1; 10 = right). This statistic shows the percentage that respondents from each country located themselves at '10'.
Measures of life satisfaction reflect the cognitive evaluation of life as a whole, now and five years from now, made by each person. The measures shown here are based on ladder-of-life questions, which ask respondents to rate their life from the worst (0) to the best (10) level, and refer to the share of people who rate their life (today and in the future) at step 7 or higher. Measures of positive and negative experiences and feelings refer to people who declared having experienced six different forms of negative and positive experiences during the previous day. Also shown are two composite indexes of positive and negative experiences, calculated at the individual record level. For each person, the 6 items are recoded so that positive answers are scored as 1 and negative answers (including “don’t know” and “refused to answer”) a 0; an individual record has an index calculated if it has at least 5 out of 6 valid scores. Each person’s composite index is the mean of valid items multiplied by 100, and the country level score shown in the table is the mean of all individual records for which an index was calculated.Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various survey questions.
Measures of life satisfaction reflect the cognitive evaluation of life as a whole, now and five years from now, made by each person. The measures shown here are based on ladder-of-life questions, which ask respondents to rate their life from the worst (0) to the best (10) level, and refer to the share of people who rate their life (today and in the future) at step 7 or higher. Measures of positive and negative experiences and feelings refer to people who declared having experienced six different forms of negative and positive experiences during the previous day. Also shown are two composite indexes of positive and negative experiences, calculated at the individual record level. For each person, the 6 items are recoded so that positive answers are scored as 1 and negative answers (including “don’t know” and “refused to answer”) a 0; an individual record has an index calculated if it has at least 5 out of 6 valid scores. Each person’s composite index is the mean of valid items multiplied by 100, and the country level score shown in the table is the mean of all individual records for which an index was calculated.Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various survey questions.
Measures of life satisfaction reflect the cognitive evaluation of life as a whole, now and five years from now, made by each person. The measures shown here are based on ladder-of-life questions, which ask respondents to rate their life from the worst (0) to the best (10) level, and refer to the share of people who rate their life (today and in the future) at step 7 or higher. Measures of positive and negative experiences and feelings refer to people who declared having experienced six different forms of negative and positive experiences during the previous day. Also shown are two composite indexes of positive and negative experiences, calculated at the individual record level. For each person, the 6 items are recoded so that positive answers are scored as 1 and negative answers (including “don’t know” and “refused to answer”) a 0; an individual record has an index calculated if it has at least 5 out of 6 valid scores. Each person’s composite index is the mean of valid items multiplied by 100, and the country level score shown in the table is the mean of all individual records for which an index was calculated.Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various survey questions.
Measures of life satisfaction reflect the cognitive evaluation of life as a whole, now and five years from now, made by each person. The measures shown here are based on ladder-of-life questions, which ask respondents to rate their life from the worst (0) to the best (10) level, and refer to the share of people who rate their life (today and in the future) at step 7 or higher. Measures of positive and negative experiences and feelings refer to people who declared having experienced six different forms of negative and positive experiences during the previous day. Also shown are two composite indexes of positive and negative experiences, calculated at the individual record level. For each person, the 6 items are recoded so that positive answers are scored as 1 and negative answers (including “don’t know” and “refused to answer”) a 0; an individual record has an index calculated if it has at least 5 out of 6 valid scores. Each person’s composite index is the mean of valid items multiplied by 100, and the country level score shown in the table is the mean of all individual records for which an index was calculated.Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various survey questions.
Measures of life satisfaction reflect the cognitive evaluation of life as a whole, now and five years from now, made by each person. The measures shown here are based on ladder-of-life questions, which ask respondents to rate their life from the worst (0) to the best (10) level, and refer to the share of people who rate their life (today and in the future) at step 7 or higher. Measures of positive and negative experiences and feelings refer to people who declared having experienced six different forms of negative and positive experiences during the previous day. Also shown are two composite indexes of positive and negative experiences, calculated at the individual record level. For each person, the 6 items are recoded so that positive answers are scored as 1 and negative answers (including “don’t know” and “refused to answer”) a 0; an individual record has an index calculated if it has at least 5 out of 6 valid scores. Each person’s composite index is the mean of valid items multiplied by 100, and the country level score shown in the table is the mean of all individual records for which an index was calculated.Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various survey questions.
Measures of life satisfaction reflect the cognitive evaluation of life as a whole, now and five years from now, made by each person. The measures shown here are based on ladder-of-life questions, which ask respondents to rate their life from the worst (0) to the best (10) level, and refer to the share of people who rate their life (today and in the future) at step 7 or higher. Measures of positive and negative experiences and feelings refer to people who declared having experienced six different forms of negative and positive experiences during the previous day. Also shown are two composite indexes of positive and negative experiences, calculated at the individual record level. For each person, the 6 items are recoded so that positive answers are scored as 1 and negative answers (including “don’t know” and “refused to answer”) a 0; an individual record has an index calculated if it has at least 5 out of 6 valid scores. Each person’s composite index is the mean of valid items multiplied by 100, and the country level score shown in the table is the mean of all individual records for which an index was calculated.Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various survey questions.
Data on suicide rates are based on official registers on causes of death based on international conventions surrounding the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The rates shown here are standardised using the OECD population structure of 1980, so as to allow controlling for differences in the age structure of the population across countries and over time. Suicide rates are expressed as deaths per 100 000 individuals.
Data on suicide rates are based on official registers on causes of death based on international conventions surrounding the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The rates shown here are standardised using the OECD population structure of 1980, so as to allow controlling for differences in the age structure of the population across countries and over time. Suicide rates are expressed as deaths per 100 000 individuals.
Data on suicide rates are based on official registers on causes of death based on international conventions surrounding the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The rates shown here are standardised using the OECD population structure of 1980, so as to allow controlling for differences in the age structure of the population across countries and over time. Suicide rates are expressed as deaths per 100 000 individuals.
Data on suicide rates are based on official registers on causes of death based on international conventions surrounding the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The rates shown here are standardised using the OECD population structure of 1980, so as to allow controlling for differences in the age structure of the population across countries and over time. Suicide rates are expressed as deaths per 100 000 individuals.
Data on suicide rates are based on official registers on causes of death based on international conventions surrounding the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The rates shown here are standardised using the OECD population structure of 1980, so as to allow controlling for differences in the age structure of the population across countries and over time. Suicide rates are expressed as deaths per 100 000 individuals.
Data on suicide rates are based on official registers on causes of death based on international conventions surrounding the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The rates shown here are standardised using the OECD population structure of 1980, so as to allow controlling for differences in the age structure of the population across countries and over time. Suicide rates are expressed as deaths per 100 000 individuals.
A tool for valuing volunteering is provided by the new Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions in the System of National Accounts, developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civic Society Studies in co-operation with the United Nations Statistics Division. The Handbook recommends that countries regularly produce “satellite accounts” of the non-profit sector, providing a comprehensive picture of its size and operation. So far, eight OECD countries have implemented this handbook, with data referring to a year between 1999 and 2004, and four additional countries are committed to do so in the future.Beyond the comprehensive information available through these handbooks, information on the size of volunteering and social support is available for a larger number of countries through household surveys. The data presented here are drawn from the Gallup World Poll. Data on volunteering are based on the two following questions: “Have you donated money to an organization in the last month?” and “Have you volunteered your time to an organization in the last month?”. Data on social support from the same survey are based on the questions: “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them?” and “Have you helped a stranger or someone you didn’t know who needed help in the last month?”. Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various questions.
A tool for valuing volunteering is provided by the new Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions in the System of National Accounts, developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civic Society Studies in co-operation with the United Nations Statistics Division. The Handbook recommends that countries regularly produce “satellite accounts” of the non-profit sector, providing a comprehensive picture of its size and operation. So far, eight OECD countries have implemented this handbook, with data referring to a year between 1999 and 2004, and four additional countries are committed to do so in the future.Beyond the comprehensive information available through these handbooks, information on the size of volunteering and social support is available for a larger number of countries through household surveys. The data presented here are drawn from the Gallup World Poll. Data on volunteering are based on the two following questions: “Have you donated money to an organization in the last month?” and “Have you volunteered your time to an organization in the last month?”. Data on social support from the same survey are based on the questions: “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them?” and “Have you helped a stranger or someone you didn’t know who needed help in the last month?”. Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various questions.
A tool for valuing volunteering is provided by the new Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions in the System of National Accounts, developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civic Society Studies in co-operation with the United Nations Statistics Division. The Handbook recommends that countries regularly produce “satellite accounts” of the non-profit sector, providing a comprehensive picture of its size and operation. So far, eight OECD countries have implemented this handbook, with data referring to a year between 1999 and 2004, and four additional countries are committed to do so in the future.Beyond the comprehensive information available through these handbooks, information on the size of volunteering and social support is available for a larger number of countries through household surveys. The data presented here are drawn from the Gallup World Poll. Data on volunteering are based on the two following questions: “Have you donated money to an organization in the last month?” and “Have you volunteered your time to an organization in the last month?”. Data on social support from the same survey are based on the questions: “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them?” and “Have you helped a stranger or someone you didn’t know who needed help in the last month?”. Population shares are calculated as a percentage of all respondents excluding those who refused or didn’t’ know how to answer the various questions.