Abstract


THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES ON THE LEVEL OF HAPPINESS IN THE WORLD'S COUNTRIES: A LOGISTIC REGRESSION ANALYSIS

In the sustainable development process, it is important to ensure a balance between economic, social and environmental goals, and to distribute the wealth created fairly among income groups. Therefore, in order to increase social welfare and happiness, it is necessary to effectively combat social inequalities in all areas of society. In studies on the subject, the effect of income distribution inequalities on the level of happiness has generally been investigated. However, it is an important issue to investigate the effects of social inequalities in other areas such as education and health, as well as income, on the level of happiness due to life satisfaction. In this context, logistic regression analysis was carried out in order to investigate the effect of existing social inequalities in the world's countries on the level of happiness. In the model, the happiness level of the world countries (happy and unhappy countries) is the dependent variable, while the independent variables are social inequalities in education, health and income. The happiness index data included in the 2019 world happiness report were used in grouping the countries of the world according to the level of happiness. The independent variables representing inequalities in the social field are the inequality (%) in education, life expectancy (health), and income, which are the determinants of the human inequality coefficient in UNDP's 2019 human development report. In the grouping of countries as happy and unhappy, the arithmetic average of the world happiness index data of 104 countries included in the analysis was taken into account, 50 countries above the average were evaluated as "happy" and 54 countries below the average were evaluated as "unhappy". As a result of the logistic regression analysis; It has been determined that inequalities in both education and health negatively affect the level of happiness, and especially inequalities in the field of education have a relatively more negative effect on the level of happiness. In this context, within the framework of the social state understanding, it is necessary to establish a system based on equality of opportunity, which the whole society can benefit from free of charge in the fields of education and health.



Keywords

Mutluluk, sosyal eşitsizlikler, refah, kalkınma





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