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Income brings satisfaction, not happiness
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., (UPI) -- Satisfaction with life goes up with income but positive feelings don't automatically come along, a worldwide study indicates.
The findings were taken from the first world-wide Gallup World Poll taken of 136,000 people in 132 countries who were asked questions about happiness and income in 2005 to 2006, Gallup reported Thursday.
The findings will appear in July's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Ed Diener, a University of Illinois professor emeritus of psychology and senior scientist with the Gallup Organization, calls it the first "happiness" study of the world to differentiate between the belief that your life is going well, and the everyday positive or negative feelings a person experiences, Gallup said.
"The public always wonders: Does money make you happy?" Diener said. "This study shows that it all depends on how you define happiness, because if you look at life satisfaction, how you evaluate your life as a whole, you see a pretty strong correlation around the world between income and happiness," he said.
"On the other hand it's pretty shocking how small the correlation is with positive feelings and enjoying yourself."
Telephone surveys were conducted in more affluent areas and door-to-door interviews in rural or less-developed regions, Gallup said.
Gallup said the countries surveyed represent about 96 percent of the world's population, reflecting the world's diversity of economic, cultural and political realities.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., (UPI) -- Satisfaction with life goes up with income but positive feelings don't automatically come along, a worldwide study indicates.
The findings were taken from the first world-wide Gallup World Poll taken of 136,000 people in 132 countries who were asked questions about happiness and income in 2005 to 2006, Gallup reported Thursday.
The findings will appear in July's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Ed Diener, a University of Illinois professor emeritus of psychology and senior scientist with the Gallup Organization, calls it the first "happiness" study of the world to differentiate between the belief that your life is going well, and the everyday positive or negative feelings a person experiences, Gallup said.
"The public always wonders: Does money make you happy?" Diener said. "This study shows that it all depends on how you define happiness, because if you look at life satisfaction, how you evaluate your life as a whole, you see a pretty strong correlation around the world between income and happiness," he said.
"On the other hand it's pretty shocking how small the correlation is with positive feelings and enjoying yourself."
Telephone surveys were conducted in more affluent areas and door-to-door interviews in rural or less-developed regions, Gallup said.
Gallup said the countries surveyed represent about 96 percent of the world's population, reflecting the world's diversity of economic, cultural and political realities.
