What makes countries happy? Using publicly available data, this mini-story explores which nations rank highest in self-reported life satisfaction and how happiness connects to economic prosperity.

Why does this matter? Happiness reflects quality of life beyond just income. By comparing global patterns, we can see how well-being depends on more than money — it highlights the role of community, equality, and social trust.

What you’ll see:

• A clear comparison of global Happiness Index patterns
• An exploration of how social and economic context shape satisfaction
• A look at how these factors vary across cultures and GDP ranges

While income plays a role, social context explains why some countries are far happier than their GDP alone would predict.

• This visualisation encourages the audience to explore how social, political, and environmental factors interact to shape life satisfaction.
• Countries with higher happiness scores tend to show stronger institutions, higher GDP per capita, and robust public services, reflecting a link between governance quality and wellbeing.
• Regions facing economic instability or conflict often score lower, underscoring how safety and opportunity are critical for life satisfaction.
• The global map highlights the geographical divide : Northern and Western nations generally fare better than regions in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.
• This serves as a foundation for deeper analysis of how policy, culture, and sustainability influence happiness across nations which will be explored further in the following slides.

• Northern European countries dominate the top 10 countries namely Finland, Denmark, and Iceland consistently lead with scores above 7.5, supported by strong social safety nets, equality, and trust in government. Western democracies like the Netherlands, Norway, and Luxembourg also rank high, showing how economic stability and good governance sustain happiness.
• In contrast, conflict-affected and low-income nations such as Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Lebanon fall at the bottom with scores under 3, reflecting the impact of political instability and economic hardship. The approximate gap of 5 between top and bottom countries underscores that social infrastructure not just wealth, drives life satisfaction, revealing clear global inequality in wellbeing.

• Europe leads overall in life satisfaction, with high median scores reflecting strong welfare systems, economic stability, and social trust.
• Oceania and the Americas follow closely, showing that balanced economies and social freedoms contribute significantly to well-being.
• Asia and Africa show lower median scores, highlighting disparities driven by income inequality, governance quality, and access to basic services.
• This visualization emphasizes that happiness is not just regional but also shaped by development level, cultural cohesion, and resilience to social challenges.

• The scatterplot shows a clear positive correlation between GDP per capita and life satisfaction richer nations generally report higher happiness levels.
• However, beyond a certain income threshold around $40,000–$50,000 per capita, the gains in happiness begin to plateau, suggesting diminishing returns from wealth alone.
• Several outliers exist hence explaining some nations with modest GDPs achieve higher happiness, reflecting the influence of social cohesion, safety, and cultural resilience.
• This reinforces that while economic prosperity is a key enabler of wellbeing, it is not the sole determinant. Social equity, trust, and opportunity matter just as much.

• Nordic consistency: Finland and Denmark stay at the top of the pack with stable, high scores, suggesting that strong institutions and social protection buffer short-term shocks.
• Advanced economies fluctuate within a band: the United States and Netherlands show modest ups and downs, indicating that economic cycles and social events nudge but don’t overturn the overall wellbeing.
• Emerging-market momentum: India, China, and Brazil display gradual directional changes rather than sharp spikes, consistent with slow-moving structural drivers (growth, services access, safety).
• Key takeaway: life satisfaction shifts slowly over a decade; when you do see bends, they typically follow major economic or social shocks rather than short-term news.

• Looking across the world, happiness levels are far from even. Northern Europe consistently scores the highest, while parts of Africa and South Asia lag behind. This gives a quick visual sense of global inequality in wellbeing.
• When comparing the happiest and unhappiest countries, the difference is clear , those with social trust, safety, and equality consistently rank higher, while conflict and instability drag scores down.
• Regional patterns show that Europe and Oceania enjoy the highest satisfaction overall, followed by the Americas, while Asia and Africa face challenges related to income, governance, and quality of life.
• Still there are numerous outliers observed during this study which are not dependant on GDP per capita for their high happiness index namely Mozambique, Nicaragua, Honduras, Krgyzstan, etc.
• Hence our overall trend suggests that wealth does play a role in happiness, but it’s not the whole story. Beyond a certain level, social connection, equality and trust matter just as much for sustained wellbeing.

• Data were sourced from open public datasets (Our World in Data) and used strictly for learning and research purposes. All sources are clearly cited on the references slide (APA 7th).
• Methods are transparent and reproducible: raw CSVs were read directly from public URLs; all wrangling and visualisation code is included in the R Markdown and can be re-run to verify results.
• The analysis is descriptive and avoids causal claims. Findings are framed as patterns and relationships for e.g. The correlation between GDP and happiness which is not proof of cause and effect.
• Privacy and ethics: no personal or sensitive data are used; all results are at the country/aggregate level. Visuals are designed to avoid deception (clear scales, consistent ranges, labeled axes).
• Design & accessibility: colour palettes are chosen for clarity and readability; charts include axis titles, tooltips and prioritising the data. The deck is hosted publicly (RPubs) for open access.