Subjective Well-being and Its Determinants in China: An Empirical Study Based on Survey Data

Abstract

Using household survey data collected in 2013, this paper empirically investigates the determinants of individual subjective well-being in China, where there has been rapid economic development over the past three decades. The main results are as follows. First, factors such as good health, marital status, life satisfaction, body mass index, physical exercise, and expectations of inflation are all significantly correlated with the reported level of happiness. Second, income has no significant effect on the level of happiness, and happiness has an inverted U-shaped relationship to wealth. Third, increased education decreases the level of happiness. To some extent, these findings can explain why subjective well-being has declined in China, despite its spectacular economic growth.

Are rural adults happy? An observational study of happiness and its determinants

“…13,14,16 But studies from rural India and elsewhere have also reported men to be less happy than females. 17,18 In the present study no differences were noted due to literacy and occupation parameters but these were contrary to studies from other countries. 13,17,19 The probable explanation would be that, less educated people had more leisure time to engage themselves in other activities which could be the source of happiness.…”

“…This finding was well supported by reported literature as well. 13,14,17,18,25 Individuals who did not smoke or ex-smokers were happier although the results were not statistically significant in the current study. Higher levels of nicotine dependence was associated with lower levels of happiness, as reported from the former Soviet Union, while a work place study from New Zealand reported smoking to be negatively associated with happiness.…”

“…This was similar to studies done from China, Latin America where home ownership was identified as a strong predictor of happiness. 18,24,27 The present study was an attempt to quantify and identify determinants of happiness in a rural community. Attempts at gauging happiness have its own limitations in a cross-sectional design, as the answers are limited to the current or recent past life experiences.…”

Dynamics of Life Satisfaction Among Rural Elderly in China: The Role of Health Insurance Policies and Intergenerational Relationships

“…Likewise, LS studies in China have expanded and are gradually advancing to the standard of research conducted in most developed countries. The effect of most determinants of LS in China is generally comparable to findings worldwide [18,19]. Researchers have probed into these general determinants of life satisfaction across different population groups and geographical segregations such as rural residents and urban citizens in addition to the dynamics of demographic transitions such as rural-urban migration.…”

Openness, rural-urban inequality, and happiness in China

“… Blanchflower and Oswald (2008) , Brockmann et al (2009) , Graham and Felton (2006) , Guriev and Zhuravskaya (2009) , Lane (2017) , Liang and Shen (2016) , Liu et al (2013) , Nikolaev and McGee (2016) , Ohtake and Tomioka (2004) , Oshio and Kobayashi (2011) , Stets and Trettevik (2016) and Wang et al (2015) .…”