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Greater Happiness for a Greater Number: Did the Promise of Enlightenment Come True?

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  • Ruut Veenhoven

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam
    North-West University)

Abstract

In the eighteenth century ‘Enlightened’ thinkers challenged the belief that happiness exists only in Heaven. They claimed that happiness is possible in earthly life and foresaw that greater happiness would be achieved using reason. Did this promise of greater happiness come true? Several scholars doubt that we have become any happier and some claim that happiness has declined. These critical claims are tested using the time trend data available in the World Database of Happiness, which cover the period 1950–2010 and involve 1531 data points in 67 nations yielding 199 time-series ranging for 10 to more than 40 years. The analysis reveals that happiness has risen in most nations. The average yearly rise in the 67 nations was +0.012 on scale 0–10, which equals a rise of one full point every 83 years. At this rate happiness must have improved by more than two points over the past two centuries and, together with increasing longevity, this denotes an unprecedented rise in happy life years.

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  • Ruut Veenhoven, 2017. "Greater Happiness for a Greater Number: Did the Promise of Enlightenment Come True?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 9-25, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:130:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-015-1128-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-015-1128-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. A. l. Moro-Egido & M. Navarro & A. Sánchez, 2022. "Changes in Subjective Well-Being Over Time: Economic and Social Resources do Matter," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2009-2038, June.
    3. Navarro, María & D'Agostino, Antonella & Neri, Laura, 2020. "The effect of urbanization on subjective well-being: Explaining cross-regional differences," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Gustavo Ahumada & Victor Iturra & Mauricio Sarrias, 2020. "We Do Not Have the Same Tastes! Evaluating Individual Heterogeneity in the Preferences for Amenities," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 53-74, January.
    5. Rose Nabi Deborah Karimi Muthuri & Flavia Senkubuge & Charles Hongoro, 2020. "Determinants of happiness among healthcare professionals between 2009 and 2019: a systematic review," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Noel Semple, 2021. "Good Enough for Government Work? Life-Evaluation and Public Policy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1119-1140, March.
    7. Shuyun Li & Mingxue Wei & Ehsan Elahi & Zainab Khalid & Shaozhi Chen, 2023. "The Sustainable Impact of Import on Chinese Residents’ Happiness: Evidence from CGSS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.

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