Abstract
This study aims at analyzing the determinants of individual‟s happiness in
Pakistan. However, this kind of research is hardly undertaken in Pakistan. The
present study is first of its kind in Pakistan to analyze the determinants of
individual happiness by using the data from World Values Survey (WVS) for
three different waves, which are 1994-1998, 1999-2004, and 2010-2014. Total
sample consists of 3,933 individuals with 733 individuals in the 1994-98 wave,
2000 individuals in the 1999-2004 wave and 1200 individuals in the recent wave
of 2010-2014. Happiness is measured by a question regarding feeling of
happiness of individuals on a four-point scale with the options, very happy, quite
happy, not very happy, and not at all happy. This happiness measure is regressed
on socio-economic and demographic variables, namely, age, health status,
gender, marital status, education, income, children, employment status,
importance of religion, family saving during past year, trust and satisfaction with
financial situation of household. Ordered Probit regression technique is used for
estimation. Interestingly, the percentage of „very happy‟ individuals has
increased over time in Pakistan as in the 1994-98 wave the frequency of very
happy individuals is 28% which increased to 45% in the recent wave. However,
happiness is lower for males, married persons and for aged people and for
persons, having children. Results suggest the need for policy makers to adopt
social programs to increase income of the people and to improve health status of
individuals.
Farkhanda Jabeen, Faiza Azhar Khan. (2016) An Empirical Analysis of Individual’s Happiness in Pakistan, Putaj Humanities And Social Science, Volume-23, Issue-2.
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