Figure 2 shows a very robust relationship between average responses to the life
satisfaction question and the Human Development Index. One attractive interpretation of
this regression is that it is something of a cross-validation of these two measures: both the
HDI and life satisfaction scores appear to be picking up related outcomes.
However Blanchflower and Oswald analysed data on happiness rather than life
satisfaction. In their analysis Blanchflower and Oswald note that “the words
‘satisfaction’ and ‘happiness’ will be used interchangeably. Whether this creates biases
is not currently known.” In order to assess this, Figure 3 repeats the same analysis as in
Figures 1 and 2, but this time using happiness data on the broader array of countries
represented in the World Values Survey