International Differences in Well-Being

International Differences in Well-Being by Ed Diener, published by Oxford University Press, USA in March 2010, is an illustrated edition comprising 512 pages. This book draws together the latest research from scholars worldwide, utilizing subjective well-being data to explore and compare well-being across various countries and cultures. The authors present a consensus that a range of subjective well-being measures, including life evaluations and emotional states, warrant broader collection and analysis.

Readers will find a detailed examination of international differences in subjective well-being, supported by data from the Gallup World Poll, the World Values Survey, and other comparable surveys. The authors document significant divergences among countries in all measures of subjective well-being, noting that these differences are more pronounced in life evaluations than in emotional experiences. The book emphasizes that while subjective evaluations can vary over time and across cultures, the substantial international differences in life evaluations primarily stem from variations in life circumstances rather than the evaluative processes themselves.