“There is no strong correlation between GDP per capita and average national happiness across countries.”

GDP per capita explains about 20-30% of the variance in life evaluations across countries in multivariate regressions, indicating a positive but not dominant correlation. Other factors like social support and freedom have larger coefficients.

Richer countries generally exhibit higher average levels of wellbeing, and globally, respondents in countries with higher GDP per capita report higher average wellbeing, though wellbeing rises with income at a diminishing rate. However, among high-income countries, this relationship no longer holds once 'social variables' like health and social networks are accounted for, suggesting that for wealthier nations, the positive association between national income and wellbeing might largely stem from its link to better health and stronger social networks.

When juxtaposing GDP per capita with happiness scores from the World Happiness Report, it becomes clear that while GDP per capita is a significant predictor of happiness, it is not the only factor. Other variables such as social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and the absence of corruption also help explain varying levels of happiness between countries.

We show that richer individuals in a given country are more satisfied with their lives than are poorer individuals, and establish that this relationship is similar in most countries around the world. Second, we show that richer countries on average have higher levels of life satisfaction. Third, analyzing the time series of countries that we observe repeatedly, we show that as countries grow, their citizens report higher levels of satisfaction.

The research examines subjective happiness values and rankings from Gallup surveys across countries and analyzes the contribution of six explanatory variables including per capita GDP, indicating that GDP is one of multiple factors influencing national happiness.

Economist Justin Wolfers set out to demonstrate that not only does the Easterlin paradox defy rational explanation, but in fact, it never existed at all. Instead, absolute income plays a strong role in determining well-being, Wolfers asserts, and relative income is a less important influence than previously believed. ... Growth, Wolfers states, is not a zero sum game as Easterlin concluded, but instead the log of absolute income is positively correlated with life satisfaction.

Self-reported life satisfaction is measured on a scale ranging from 0-10, where 10 is the highest possible life satisfaction. GDP per capita is adjusted for differences in cost of living (GDP per capita in international-$ in 2011 prices). The visualization shows a clear positive relationship between GDP per capita and life satisfaction across countries.

When examining long-term trends, there is not necessarily a correlation between a country's income level and the average happiness of its people. The analysis of Japan's per capita real GDP and life satisfaction over time shows this disconnect.

A correlation diagram from a December 2015 world happiness survey by a major polling company shows that while developed countries rank high in economic terms, they generally cluster around 40% in happiness levels, indicating a weak relationship between GDP and happiness.

While some of the world's happiest countries have high GDP per capita, and most of the least happy are very poor, the correlation is far from perfect. A 1% change in GDP per capita is estimated to cause only a 0.3 unit change in happiness (on a scale from 0 to 10), but when GDP per capita is included with other variables like social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and freedom from corruption, the model explains nearly 75% of the variance in happiness.

The paper shows that GDP per capita is a better measure of happiness defined in surveys than the human capital index.

Statistical analysis shows a high correlation (approximately 0.77) between per capita GDP and happiness scores. In fact, increases in a country's average income are associated with improvements in health, welfare, social relationships, and personal freedom.

The chart shows self-reported life satisfaction measured against gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The two are positively correlated: people in richer countries tend to be more satisfied with their lives. Of course, income is not the only thing that matters. You can also see the large spread of values for countries with similar levels of GDP per capita.

Comparing different countries, higher income was not associated with higher happiness, at least for countries with income that meets the basic needs. On the contrary Easterlin (1974, 1995) Helliwell (2001) suggest that there is no or very insignificant association of GDP per capita and happiness. Many studies found no link between higher GDP per capita over time associated with higher happiness in USA, moreover one study found negative link between.

National happiness and economic wealth (GDP) have little correlation. For example, Japan's per capita GDP of $38,550 is far higher than Fiji or Mexico, but its happiness level is only 54% (ranked 18th). Similarly, the United States has a per capita GDP of about $60,000 but a happiness level of only 50% (ranked 25th). In contrast, Bhutan's per capita GDP is only $2,886—less than one-tenth of Japan or France—yet 97% of its citizens report feeling happy.

Research measuring happiness levels, life satisfaction, attachment, and residential intention across prefectures demonstrates that well-being is multidimensional and cannot be reduced to economic indicators alone.

Happiness level and GDP growth rate do not have a positive correlation. This suggests that whether people feel happy is determined by various factors beyond economic power alone.

A master's thesis examining the influence of per capita GDP on well-being, using data from various relevant organizations like the World Bank, found a positive relationship between the two variables, concluding that an increase in per capita GDP results in an increase in well-being.

We can say that having a high GDP per capita leads to higher happiness scores within a country.

The main findings are that there is evidence of a statistically significant relationship between a country’s level of happiness and its per capita GDP. There is statistical evidence that the explanatory variable of per capita GDP has a relationship with the independent variable of Happiness.

The Easterlin Paradox, proposed by Richard Easterlin in 1974, states that at a point in time happiness varies directly with income both among and within nations, but over time happiness does not increase when a country's income rises. Multiple studies have debated this, with some finding positive correlations across countries while others find weak or no association beyond basic needs.

Based on the World Happiness Report 2023 edition, there is a clear positive correlation between per capita GDP and happiness level, with the graph showing a consistent upward trend. However, the analysis also notes that GDP is only one element of happiness, though it plays a very important role.

Happiness encompasses multifaceted dimensions including health, education, connection, safety and security, sense of purpose at work, environment, and subjective well-being—factors that GDP alone cannot capture.

An exploratory data analysis of the World Happiness Report found that GDP per capita is the most important factor among six key variables (income, healthy life expectancy, social support, generosity, freedom, and trust) in explaining differences in national happiness, as money allows countries to afford both luxuries and basic resources.

GDP increases are often supported by industrialization, which can come at the cost of environmental destruction. In other words, high GDP does not necessarily align with high happiness levels.