Societal progress is characterized primarily as an improvement in the distribution of wellbeing; however, a small set of additional variables are also necessary. Social indicators based on objective measures are inherently limited by the subjective assessments necessary of "experts" to select...

Governments are becoming interested in the concept of human well-being and how truly to assess it. As an alternative to traditional economic measures, some nations have begun to collect information on citizens' happiness, life satisfaction, and other psychological scores. Yet how could such data...

The ongoing debate on the purpose of ‘development’ has given rise to many new studies on happiness and quality of life situated in both developed and developing countries. Recent insights from this field include the suggestions that ever-increasing incomes do not always increase happiness,...