FAQ > About Subjective Well-Being (Happiness and Life Satisfaction), by Dr. Diener > Q: Are rich people happier?
A: When wealth is measured within countries, wealthier people seem to be slightly happier on average. But the effects of money on happiness in general are not large. Dire poverty is more likely to make a person unhappy than wealth is to make a person happy, although even for poverty the effects are not overwhelming. The effects of living in a wealthy nation are stronger - people in wealthy nations show higher levels of SWB, and this is true for all levels of wealth within nations. One thing that appears clearly to be bad - wanting money too much. Those who highly value materialism have been found in a number of studies to have lower SWB.
It is easy to forget that poor people can have many strengths in their lives. For example, in Robert Biswas-Diener's study in the slums of Calcutta, even the homeless (who are extraordinarily poor by western standards) have friends, often have a family back in the countryside, gain positive feelings from their religion, have decent self-esteem, and so forth.
Last updated on September 14, 2007 by Dr. Walt