In these exceptional times, the lockdown left many of us with a lot of time to think. Think about the past and the future. Think about our way of life and our achievements. But most importantly, think about what has been and would be our contribution to the world. And, as I was seeking for inspiration and energy, I decided to grasp the question of happiness and get a deeper understanding of the complex nature of its dynamics.

在这些特殊时期，封锁使我们许多人有很多时间去思考。 考虑过去和未来。 想一想我们的生活方式和成就。 但最重要的是，考虑一下我们将对世界做出的贡献，并将为之做出贡献。 而且，当我寻求灵感和能量时，我决定抓住幸福的问题，并更深刻地了解幸福的复杂性。

What makes people truly happy?

是什么使人们真正快乐？

We all have our own ideas about happiness and its key determinants. Some would choose wealth as it is indispensable to enjoy a comfortable like with high living conditions. Some would reject this materialistic point of view and would argue that social relationships (family, friends, etc.) and values are what matters the most. Others would defend the idea that, as citizens who benefit from a set of rights while abiding by certain rules, it’s the government and its policies that really determine our living conditions and thus our happiness.

我们都对幸福及其主要决定因素有自己的看法。 有些人会选择财富，因为像高生活条件这样的舒适享受是必不可少的。 有些人会拒绝这种唯物主义的观点，并认为社会关系 (家庭，朋友等)和价值观才是最重要的。 其他人会捍卫这样的观点，即公民在遵守某些规则的同时从一系列权利中受益，真正决定我们的生活条件并因此决定我们的幸福的是政府及其政策 。

These are all intuitive ideas. But what does the available data tell us?

这些都是直觉的想法。 但是可用数据告诉我们什么？

In this perspective, I analyzed data from The World Happiness Report which is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. More specifically, it contains, on the one hand, happiness scores based on the answers gathered from the Gallup World Poll (GWP) and on the other hand, indicators of economic production, social support, life expectancy, freedom, absence of corruption, and generosity.

从这个角度来看，我分析了《世界幸福报告》中的数据， 该报告是对全球幸福状况的里程碑式调查。 更具体地说，它一方面包含根据盖洛普世界民意调查 (GWP)收集的答案得出的幸福分数，另一方面则包含经济生产，社会支持，预期寿命，自由，没有腐败以及大方。

In a series of three articles, I will share with you my key findings. The first article intents to give a general overview of the evolution of happiness and related indicators across countries through a data explanatory analysis. The two others focus on the causal impact of these indicators on happiness.

在三篇文章中，我将与您分享我的主要发现。 第一篇文章旨在通过数据解释性分析来概述各国幸福感的发展及相关指标。 另外两个重点关注这些指标对幸福的因果影响。

Structure:

结构体：

1. About the Data

   关于数据

2. General Overview of Happiness

   幸福概述

3. Happiness & Wealth

   幸福与财富

4. Happiness & Social Environment

   幸福与社会环境

5. Happiness & Public Policies

   幸福与公共政策

1.关于数据 (1. About the Data)

First, let’s start by defining the key indicators that will be used. The data taken from the World Happiness Report is particularly interesting as it combines fundamental economic with more subjective social measures.

首先，让我们开始定义将要使用的关键指标。 《 世界幸福报告 》中的数据特别有趣，因为它结合了基本经济和更主观的社会措施。

Economic indicators

经济指标

• GDP per capita: in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) adjusted to constant 2011 international dollars, from World Development Indicators (WDI), 2018.

  人均GDP ：根据2018年《 世界发展指标》(WDI) ，按购买力平价(PPP)调整为2011年恒定国际美元。

• Healthy life expectancy at birth: from the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory data repository.

  出生时的健康预期寿命 ：来自世界卫生组织(WHO) 全球卫生观察站数据库。

Happiness measures

幸福措施

These indicators mainly come from the Gallup World Poll (GWP). It continually surveys residents in more than 160 countries using randomly selected, nationally representative samples. Typically, a set of questions is asked to 1,000 individuals in each country during interviews conducted face-to-face or by phone. For more information, you can read this article.

这些指标主要来自G allup世界民意测验(GWP)。 它使用随机选择的，具有全国代表性的样本不断调查160多个国家/地区的居民。 通常，在面对面或通过电话进行的访谈中，会向每个国家的1,000个人提出一系列问题。 有关更多信息，您可以阅读本文 。

The main challenge of studying happiness is, first, how to measure it. In fact, the assessment of well-being goes from general judgments of life (life evaluation) to feelings (daily affect). In this context, we will be using 3 metrics:

研究幸福的主要挑战是，首先，如何衡量幸福。 实际上，对幸福感的评估从对生活的一般判断(对生活的评估)到对感觉(每天的影响)的评估。 在这种情况下，我们将使用3个指标：

• Cantril Scale, or Life Ladder: it consists of asking respondents to rate their lives on a “ladder” scale ranging from 0 to 10, where 0 means the worst possible life.

  Cantril量表或生命阶梯 ：它包括要求受访者以0到10的“阶梯”量表对他们的生活进行评分，其中0表示可能的最坏生活。

• Positive affect: it is an average of previous-day affect measures for happiness, laughter, and enjoyment from GWP. The general form for the affect questions is: “Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday?”

  积极影响：这是前一天对来自全球变暖潜能值的幸福，笑声和享受的平均影响程度。 情感问题的一般形式是： “您昨天在一天中的很多时候都经历了以下感觉吗？”

• Negative affect: it represents the average of previous-day affect measures for worry, sadness, and anger.

  负面影响：它表示前一天忧虑，悲伤和愤怒的平均影响程度。

Social indicators

社会指标

In terms of social support, we will analyze two indicators:

在社会支持方面，我们将分析两个指标：

• Social support: it represents the national average of the binary responses (either 0 or 1) to the GWP question “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?”

  社会支持 ：它代表对全球升温潜能值问题的二元回答(0或1)的全国平均值。 ”

• Generosity: it is computed as the residual of regressing the national average of GWP responses to the question “Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?” on GDP per capita.

  慷慨 ：它是根据全球升温潜能值对“您在过去一个月是否向慈善机构捐款吗？”这一问题得到的全国平均值进行回归而得出的残差。 人均GDP 。

Finally, to grasp the impact of people’s perceptions of politics on their happiness, we will use the following metrics:

最后，为了掌握人们对政治的看法对其幸福感的影响，我们将使用以下指标：

• Freedom to make life choices: it represents the national average of binary responses to the GWP question “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?”

  可以自由选择生活 ：它代表了全球升温潜能值问题“ 您对选择自己的生活的自由感到满意还是不满意？”的二元答复的全国平均值。

• Perceptions of corruption: it represents the average of binary answers to two GWP questions: “Is corruption widespread throughout the government or not?” and “Is corruption widespread within businesses or not?”

  对腐败的看法 ：它代表对两个全球升温潜能值问题的二元答案的平均值： “腐败是否在整个政府中广泛存在？” 和“ 腐败在企业内部是否普遍存在？ ”

• Confidence in national government, constructed with a similar approach.

  用类似的方法建立对国家政府的信心 。

Here a quick description of data:

这里是数据的快速描述：

• Years included: 2005–2019
  年份包括：2005–2019
• Number of countries: 166
  国家数目：166
• Number of regions: 10
  地区数：10

2.幸福概述 (2. General Overview of Happiness)

The overall sentiment of happiness is very dependent on the economic conjecture, as one would have expected. In fact, the Life Ladder, which represent people’s own life evaluation, is at its lowest point in the year 2006 just before the financial crisis.

正如人们所期望的那样，幸福的整体情绪在很大程度上取决于经济推测 。 实际上，代表人们自己的生活评估的生命阶梯处于金融危机之前的2006年最低点。

This is also the case of Positive affect and Negative affect. These metrics bring an interesting nuance to the previous one: they refer to the average of previous-day affect in terms of happiness, laughter, and enjoyment or worry, sadness, and anger respectively. Therefore, contrary to Life Lader, there are somewhat short-term measures of happiness.

积极情感和消极情感也是如此。 这些指标给前一个指标带来了一个有趣的细微差别：它们分别指前一天的平均幸福感，笑声，愉悦感或忧虑，悲伤和愤怒。 因此，与“ 人生阶梯”相反，有一些短期的幸福度量。

In this context, as shown in the graph below, these variables are at the lowest point after the financial crisis as well. However, the impact on Negative affect is certainly stronger than on Positive affect.

在这种情况下，如下图所示，这些变量也处于金融危机之后的最低点。 但是，对负面影响的影响肯定大于对正面影响的影响。

In terms of geographical differences, there is no surprise. Rich countries are on average happier. Most importantly, the graph below shows the tremendous inequalities that exist from a region of the world to another.

就地域差异而言，毫不奇怪。 富裕国家平均而言更加幸福。 最重要的是，下图显示了世界某个地区与另一个地区之间存在的巨大不平等。

Even within the same region, there are important disparities between countries, especially in South Asia, Middle East, and Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, as represented in the graph below. On the contrary, happiness levels in countries of North America or Europe are very similar.

如下图所示，即使在同一地区内，国家之间也存在重要差异，尤其是在南亚 ， 中东和非洲以及撒哈拉以南非洲地区 。 相反， 北美或欧洲国家的幸福水平非常相似。

3.幸福与财富 (3. Happiness & Wealth)

For decades, the question of whether more wealth leads to more happiness has absorbed economists, behavioral scientists, and the general public. There is no doubt that people’s happiness and wealth have a strong correlation. And, data do not contradict this general trend. In fact, as shown in the graph, the higher the GDP per capita is, the higher is the happiness level.

几十年来，经济学家，行为科学家和普通大众都开始关注更多的财富是否带来更多的幸福。 毫无疑问，人们的幸福感和财富有着很强的相关性。 并且，数据并不与这种总体趋势相矛盾。 实际上，如图所示， 人均GDP越高，幸福感就越高。

However, there are many exceptions to this rule: the happiness level of countries with a similar GDP per capita can significantly differ. For instance, Norway and Kuwait have similar GDP per capita but their level of happiness differs significantly (1.3 points!).

但是，此规则有很多例外 ： 人均GDP相似的国家的幸福水平可能有很大差异。 例如， 挪威和科威特的 人均GDP相似，但幸福感却相差很大(1.3分！)。

Even within the same region, the level of happiness can differ significantly from a country to another although they have a close GDP per capita. For instance, Finland and Belgium have a similar GDP per capita but their level of happiness differs from 1 point!

即使在同一地区，尽管一个国家的人均GDP接近，幸福水平也可能因国家而异。 例如， 芬兰和比利时的人均GDP相似，但幸福感却相差1分！

Are these observations a proof of the old cliché “money can’t buy happiness”? Actually, they point to two well-established ideas:

这些观察是否证明了陈词滥调“金钱买不到幸福”？ 实际上，他们指出了两个公认的想法：

1. In general, wealth does matter, but with a diminishing marginal utility pattern. It means that the richer a person is, the less an increase of his wealth would lead to an increase in his happiness.

   总的来说，财富固然重要，但边际效用模式却在逐渐减少。 这意味着一个人越富有，他的财富增加所带来的幸福感就越少。

2. Using wealth as an indicator of happiness is problematic. On the one hand, it can be used to represent people’s willingness to succeed in their work and to improve their standard of living. Thus, people’s wealth would reflect somehow how much people are satisfied with their present lives and hopeful about the future. But, on the other hand, it does not include other variables that have certainly a determinant contribution to people’s life satisfaction, such as family, work, and health.

   用财富作为幸福的指标是有问题的 。 一方面，它可以用来代表人们在工作中取得成功并提高生活水平的意愿。 因此，人们的财富将以某种方式反映人们对现在的生活感到满意并对未来充满希望。 但是，另一方面， 它不包括其他对人们的生活满意度具有决定性影响的变量 ，例如家庭，工作和健康。

4.幸福与社会环境 (4. Happiness & Social Environment)

When we think about what the ingredients of happiness would be, it is almost impossible to exclude the social aspect. In fact, as social creatures, we need love, meaning, support from our close relationships with family and friends, and a sense of belonging from our broader networks.

当我们考虑幸福的成分时，几乎不可能排除社会因素。 实际上，作为社交动物，我们需要与家人和朋友的亲密关系中的爱心，意义，支持以及更广泛的网络中的归属感。

So, is social connection the best path towards happiness?

那么，社交关系是通往幸福的最佳途径吗？

Let’s take a look at data. More especially, we will focus on the following variable:

让我们看一下数据。 更具体地说，我们将重点关注以下变量：

• Social support: it measures to what extent a healthy social life can lead to a feeling of security. In fact, a social network is often a source of advice for people and brings them a feeling of comfort in knowing that their family or friends can help them if they ever need assistance.

  社会支持 ：它衡量健康的社会生活在多大程度上可以带来安全感。 实际上，社交网络通常是人们的建议来源，使他们知道自己的家人或朋友可以在需要帮助的情况下为他们带来安慰。

• Generosity: It reflects the feeling of belonging that usually comes from the actions of giving to people and receiving from others.

  慷慨 ：它反映出一种归属感 ，通常来自于给予他人和接受他人的行为。

The table below contains the average per region. In terms of Social Support, North American and Western European countries have the highest value, while South Asian countries have the lowest. In terms of Generosity, North American and Southeast Asian countries have the highest value while Sub-Saharian countries have the lowest. Unsurprisingly, these variables are high when Life Ladder and Positive affect are high and Negative affect low.

下表包含每个区域的平均值 。 在社会支持方面 ， 北美和西欧国家的价值最高，而南亚国家的价值最低。 就慷慨而言 ， 北美和东南亚国家的价值最高，而撒哈拉以南国家的价值最低。 毫不奇怪，当“ 人生阶梯”和“ 正面影响”较高而“ 负面影响”较低时，这些变量较高。

In order to compare the strength of the association between happiness and these “social” variables, let’s compare their correlation. Below are the correlation matrices for two regions, one with a high level of happiness, Western Europe, and the other one with a low value, South Asia.

为了比较幸福与这些“社会”变量之间的关联强度 ，让我们比较它们之间的关联。 以下是两个地区的相关矩阵，一个地区的幸福度高， 西欧，另一个地区的价值低， 南亚。

As you can see, while Life Ladder, Positive affect, and Negative affect are highly correlated to Social Support and Generosity in Western Europe, there are not in South Asia. What can we deduce from this? Is it due to the culture of the country, the political system, or other variables? Further study is needed to shed some light on the question.

如您所见，虽然生活阶梯 ， 积极影响和消极影响与西欧的 社会支持和慷慨程度高度相关，但在南亚却没有。 我们可以从中得出什么？ 是由于国家文化，政治制度还是其他因素造成的？ 需要进一步研究以阐明该问题。

A quick word about the Harvard Study of Adult Development

关于哈佛大学成人发展研究的简短介绍

In 1938, a group of Harvard researchers investigated the question of the happiness, by tracking the development of a group of teenage boys through periodic interviews and medical checkups. Their objective was to understand the evolution of their health and well-being through time. It became one of the longest and most famous longitudinal studies of its kind. More than 80 years after, the research concluded that social connections are one of the most important factors for people’s happiness and health. As Robert Waldinger, the current director of the study, simply summarized in a famous TED video: “Those who kept warm relationships got to live longer and happier, and the loners often died earlier”. For more information about the study, you can read this article.

1938年，一群哈佛大学的研究人员通过定期的访谈和体检跟踪了一群十几岁男孩的成长，从而研究了幸福问题。 他们的目标是了解他们的健康和福祉随着时间的演变。 它成为同类研究中最长，最著名的纵向研究之一。 80多年后，研究得出结论， 社交关系是人们幸福和健康的最重要因素之一。 正如现任研究主任罗伯特·瓦尔丁格(Robert Waldinger)在一个著名的TED录像带中所概括的那样：“保持亲密关系的人可以活得更长寿，更快乐，而孤独者通常死得更早”。 有关该研究的更多信息，您可以阅读本文 。

5.幸福与公共政策 (5. Happiness & Public Policies)

There is no doubt that governments have an impact on people’s well-being, as the public policies they implement define important happiness factors such as access to education, employment, healthcare, etc.

毫无疑问，政府会影响人们的福祉，因为政府实施的公共政策定义了重要的幸福因素，例如获得教育，就业，医疗保健等。

Actually, the question of the relationship between people’s happiness and the policies put in place by the government is delicate, and this on two levels:

实际上，人们的幸福感与政府制定的政策之间的关系问题是微妙的，这在两个层面上 ：

1. To what extent a government is entitled to intervene in order to modify the social effects of the market economy? Liberals tend to argue for generous unemployment protections and welfare benefits, while conservatives defend the idea a minimal governmental intervention to ensure market efficiency.

   政府有权在多大程度上干预以改变市场经济的社会影响？ 自由主义者倾向于争取慷慨的失业保护和福利，而保守派则主张这一想法是政府为确保市场效率而进行的最小干预。

2. How to measure policy impacts? Should we only focus on objective indicators such as national economic growth, per capita production? Or, should we step back and ask, instead, what sorts of public policies lead citizens to evaluate their lives as happier?

   如何衡量政策影响？ 我们是否应该只关注客观指标，例如国民经济增长，人均生产？ 或者，我们应该退后一步，问一下，什么样的公共政策使公民对自己的生活感到更加快乐？

Some countries have historically put happiness in the center of their ideals.

历史上有些国家把幸福放在理想的中心。

For instance, the American Declaration of Independence lists the Pursuit of Happiness as one of three naturally unalienable rights, alongside Life and Liberty. It also clearly states it as the final goal of any government.

例如，《美国独立宣言》将“ 追求幸福”与“生命与自由”一并列为三项自然不可剥夺的权利之一 。 它还清楚地指出，这是任何政府的最终目标。

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”Constitution of the United States, 1787

“我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的，所有人都是平等的，创造者赋予他们某些不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命，自由和追求幸福。”美国宪法， 1787年

The government of Bhutan, a country in South Asia, went a step further by putting aside regular economic indicators and focusing primarily on the Gross National Happiness (GNH), an index that aims at measuring the collective happiness and well-being of the population. Contrary to GDP, its values include harmony with nature and traditional values. For more information, you read this article, and watch this short video.

南亚国家不丹政府进一步抛弃了常规经济指标，主要关注国民幸福指数(GNH) ，该指数旨在衡量人口的集体幸福感和幸福感。 与GDP相反，它的价值包括与自然和传统价值的和谐。 有关更多信息，请阅读本文 ，并观看此简短视频 。

Here, I analyze the impact of people’s perception of the government on their happiness. The following aspects are considered

在这里，我分析了人们对政府的看法对其幸福感的影响。 吨他以下几个方面考虑

• People’s confidence in the government and its policies, through Confidence in the government.

  通过对政府的信任，人们对政府及其政策有信心。

• People’s perceived level of corruption in the country, via Perceptions of corruption.

  通过对腐败的感知，人们可以看到该国的腐败程度。

• People’s feelings of freedom when it comes to making a life choice, as indicated by Freedom to make life choices.

  人们在做出人生选择时的自由感，正如自由做出人生选择所表明的那样。

• The efficiency of the healthcare system broadly, reflected by the Healthy life expectancy at birth.

  从出生时的健康预期寿命可以广泛反映出医疗保健系统的效率。

The table below contains the average per region. Countries of Central and Eastern Europe have the lowest value for Confidence in national government and Freedom to make life choices and, the highest Perceptions of corruption, this compared to other countries such as those of North America.

下表包含每个区域的平均值 。 与北美等其他国家相比， 中欧和东欧国家对国家政府和自由做出生活选择的 信心最低，而对腐败的观念也最高。

In order to compare the strength of the association between happiness and these “policies” related variables, let’s compare their correlation. Below are the correlation matrices for two regions, one with a high level of happiness, North America, and the other one with a low value, Central Europe.

为了比较幸福与这些与“政策”相关的变量之间的关联强度 ，让我们比较它们之间的关联。 以下是两个地区的相关矩阵，一个地区的幸福感高， 北美，另一个地区的价值低， 中欧。

There are 3 elements to notice :

有3个要注意的元素：

• First, for countries of North America, Life Ladder has a strong positive correlation to Healthy life expectancy, Freedom to make life choices and, Confidence in national government, and a highly negative correlation to Perceptions of corruption. This is not the case for countries of Central Europe.

  首先，对于北美国家/ 地区而言 ， 人生阶梯与健康的预期寿命 ， 自由选择 生活的 自由度 ，对国家政府的信心和与腐败的观念高度负相关。 中欧国家并非如此。

• Next, in North American countries, the correlation of these variables to Positive and Negative affects is not as significant as with Life Ladder. This would suggest that these “policies” related variables would have a bigger impact on people's general judgments of life rather than their daily affects.

  其次，在北美国家/地区，这些变量与正面和负面影响之间的相关性并不像《 生活阶梯》那样重要。 这表明这些与“政策”相关的变量将对人们的一般生活判断产生更大的影响，而不是对他们的日常影响产生更大的影响。

• Finally, in Central European countries, the correlation between Freedom to make life choices and Positive and Negative affects is significantly high. This would suggest on the contrary that this variable would have a more important impact on people’s daily affects rather than their general judgments of life.

  最后，在中欧国家中， 做出生活选择的自由与积极和消极影响之间的相关性非常高。 相反，这表明该变量将对人们的日常影响而不是对生活的一般判断产生更重要的影响。

The correlation matrix below shows to extended these difference between developed countries and other countries applies for the other regions of the world:

下面的相关矩阵显示，要扩大发达国家与其他国家之间的差异，可以适用于世界其他地区：

Again, there are 3 elements to note:

同样，要注意3个元素：

• The correlation between Life Ladder and Healthy life expectancy at birth is very high in North America and not significant for Western European countries. This might be explained by the fact that Western European countries usually provide its citizens with solid medical coverage.

  生命梯与出生时健康预期寿命之间的相关性在北美非常高，而对西欧国家则不显着。 西欧国家通常会为其公民提供可靠的医疗保险，这一事实可以解释这一点。

• Freedom to make a life has a significantly higher correlation to Life Ladder in North American countries than in other countries.

  与其他国家相比， 北美国家的自由生活与生活阶梯的相关性明显更高。

• Confidence in national government and Life Ladder have a high positive correlation in North America and Western Europe where democracy as the political regime tends to be more common. Similarly, Perception of corruption and Life Ladder have a strong negative correlation in North America and Western Europe

  在北美和西欧 ，人们对国家政府和人生阶梯的 信心具有高度正相关性，而在北美和西欧 ，民主作为政治制度的倾向更为普遍。 同样，在北美洲和西欧， 对腐败和人生阶梯的 看法也有很强的负相关性

What can we deduce from this? It is hard to conclude anything from these observations since the distribution of the variables varies tremendously form a region to another. However, the correlations above shed light on important facts and present interesting insights to understand happiness dynamics across regions of the world.

我们可以从中得出什么？ 从这些观察中很难得出任何结论，因为变量的分布从一个区域到另一个区域变化很大。 然而，上述相关性揭示了重要事实，并提供了有趣的见解，以了解世界各地幸福的动态。

结论 (Conclusion)

As expected, happiness dynamics are extremely multifaceted varying across countries and through time. However, this complexity should not discourage policymakers from taking them into account. On the contrary, they should use happiness indicators to determine the right policies to implement, but also to measure policies performance. They can rely on the help of experts across the fields of economics, psychology, survey analysis and health to define how measurements of well-being can be used effectively

不出所料，幸福动态在不同国家和时间范围内都极为复杂。 但是，这种复杂性不应阻止决策者将其考虑在内。 相反，他们应该使用幸福指标来确定要实施的正确政策，而且还要衡量政策绩效。 他们可以依靠经济学，心理学，调查分析和健康领域的专家的帮助来定义如何有效地使用幸福感的测量方法

In this article, I simply carried out a data explanatory analysis so as to get a solid insight into happiness dynamics. In the next, I will focus on the causal relations between happiness and other factors.

在本文中，我仅进行了数据解释性分析，以便对幸福动态有深入的了解。 接下来，我将重点介绍幸福与其他因素之间的因果关系。