Democracy, well‐being, and happiness: A 10‐nation study

This article explores the association between subjective well‐being (life satisfaction and happiness) and the importance of living in a democracy in 10 countries: Brazil, China, India, Russia, Rwanda, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States. We examine well‐being as one possible indicator of the likelihood of a society's commitment to democracy. We find that there is indeed a relationship between life satisfaction and the importance of living in a democracy. Countries with high levels of life satisfaction tend to be secure democracies, whereas countries with lower levels of life satisfaction tend to experience more political and economic challenges. We briefly discuss the unique socioeconomic realities and historical trajectories that may be responsible for varied levels of well‐being and diverse sentiments on the importance of democracy. We have deliberately selected a wide range of diverse case studies in order to analyse our results within varied political and socioeconomic contexts.

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