Psychological wellbeing & happiness
While we do not necessarily consider psychological wellbeing to be a dimension of poverty, it is a vitally important aspect of people’s lives. More internationally-comparable data are needed to clarify which indicators can be used to inform policy.
Psychological and subjective states of wellbeing have intrinsic and instrumental value. They are a key component of the other dimensions we propose, as well as an end result of their attainment. Moreover, they stand to contribute a richer perspective to our understanding of human experience and values, and particularly the importance of their non-material components.
Our survey includes measures of four approaches to measuring psychological wellbeing (happiness, satisfaction overall and by domain and indicators of basic needs and of meaning in life).
Resources
Survey module: Psychological and subjective wellbeing – English, July 2009
Survey module: Psychological and subjective well-being – Spanish, July 2009
Survey module: Psychological and subjective well-being – French, July 2009
Survey module: Psychological and subjective well-being – Mandarin 2009 (Translation courtesy of Science Press.)
Technical Notes on Use of the Psychological and Subjective Wellbeing Module, July 2009
You can read an abridged version of this paper in Spanish:
¿Para qué medir el bienestar subjetivo y psicológico? Emma Samman, 2007.
(Translation courtesy of Revista Humanum.)
The missing dimensions modules have been implemented and integrated into multi-topic household surveys. Read more about the projects around the world.
