At first sight it appears incongruous to discuss wellbeing in relation to
developing countries. Most often, and properly, our attention and concern is
for the many people who experience suffering as a consequence of their
poverty. However, there are a number of reasons why it is important to
confront this apparent incongruity. The first is to acknowledge the fully
rounded humanity of poor men, women and children in developing
countries; recognizing that they are not completely defined by their poverty,
nor can they be fully understood in its terms alone. Poor people in
developing countries strive to achieve wellbeing for themselves and their
children. For the poorest, and in the worst instances, this will largely be a
struggle to limit the extent of their illbeing and suffering. But even alongside
deprivations, poor men, women and children are able to achieve some
elements of what they conceive of as wellbeing, as Biswas-Diener and
Diener (2001) demonstrate; without this, we would argue, their lives would
be unbearable. Furthermore, it is striking that the non-poor in developing
countries can often experience what appear to be high levels of life
satisfaction. Wellbeing is far from an irrelevant concept in the study of
international development