Cross-national survey research topic: Well-being

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Cross-national survey research topic: Well-being

Subjective well-being (SWB) has long been a focus of cross-national research. The term encompasses concepts such as happiness and life satisfaction and has been measured on surveys using both single items and multi-item modules.

Key survey questions on life satisfaction

Survey question	Major cross-national survey(s) containing the question	*View/visualise survey responses via ZACAT/NSD/JDS/Eurofound (login required)**	Search for question in native questionnaires via SQB	Where else is this question asked?
All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?	European Values Study World Values Survey	*View 2008 EVS responses Analyse WVS online	Not yet available	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database
(And) all things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole nowadays? (Please answer using this card, where 0 means extremely dissatisfied and 10 means extremely satisfied.)	European Social Survey	*View 2008 ESS responses	Search questionnaires	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database
All things considered, how satisfied would you say you are with your life these days? Please tell me on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means very dissatisfied and 10 means very satisfied.	European Quality of Life Survey	View 2007 EQLS responses	Search questionnaires	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database
In general, would you say you are satisfied with your life? Would you say you are ... Very satisfied ... Fairly satisfied ... Not very satisfied ... Not satisfied at all	Latinobarómetro	Analyse Latinobarómetro online	Not yet available	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database
On the whole, are you very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied or not at all satisfied with the life you lead?	Eurobarometer	*View Eurobarometer 71.2 (2009) responses	Not yet available	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database

Key survey questions on happiness

Survey question	Major cross-national survey(s) containing the question	*View/visualise survey responses via ZACAT/NSD/JDS/Eurofound (login required)**	Search for question in native questionnaires via SQB	Where else is this question asked?
Taking all things together, would you say you are: Very happy, Quite happy, Not very happy, Not at all happy	Eurobarometer European Values Study World Values Survey	View Eurobarometer 66.3 (2006) responses View 2008 EVS responses Analyse WVS online	Not yet available	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database
Generally speaking, would you say you are: Very happy, Quite happy, Not very happy, Not at all happy	Latinobarómetro	Analyse Latinobarómetro online	Not yet available	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database
Taking all things together, how happy would you say you are?	European Quality of Life Survey European Social Survey	View 2007 EQLS responses *View 2008 ESS responses	Search questionnaires	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database
If you were to consider your life in general these days, how happy or unhappy would you say you are, on the whole ... Very happy ... Fairly happy ... Not very happy ... Not at all happy	International Social Survey Programme	*View 2008 ISSP responses	Not yet available	SQB question search ICPSR social science variables database

Links to selected external resources on well-being

Publications on well-being with a cross-national/comparative focus

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