Author(s)

Oumar Bouare

Research Centre in Economic and Social Sciences, Bamako, Mali.

Life satisfaction or happiness is an elusive concept, making it difficult to aggregate, measure and compare at a country level. Therefore, we propose an analytical framework, which can determine life satisfaction and the level curve of life satisfaction over time in countries. We then address four countries as cases: the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium and France. The Netherlands has the highest ranking of life satisfaction by year and the level curve of life satisfaction over 1986-1995. This analytical framework allows for the direct intercession of a country’s legislator on welfare issues, strengthening social cohesion that may foster country’s economic development.

Life Satisfaction, Life Dissatisfaction, Level Curve of Satisfaction over Time, Unit of Measurement

Bouare, O. (2017) Comparing Countries’ Life Satisfaction and Their Level Curve of Life Satisfaction over Time: An Analytical Framework. Psychology, 8, 2346-2376. doi: 10.4236/psych.2017.814148.