World Happiness Analysis — README
Project Summary
This project explores the World Happiness dataset to understand the factors that most strongly influence happiness across different regions of the world.
We examine:
- Economic indicators
- Social indicators
- Health levels
- Institutional trust
- Cultural differences between regions
- Outliers and unique country behaviors
Dataset Overview
- Source: World Happiness Report
- Rows: 1232
- Columns: 16
- Key variables include:
- Happiness Score
- GDP per Capita
- Social Support
- Life Expectancy
- Freedom
- Generosity
- Perception of Corruption (Institutional Trust)
Key Questions
- What factors influence happiness the most?
- Are all the regions reacting similarly to GDP Changes?
- Is GDP per Capita important for the happiness of Western Europe, and Latin America and Carribean?
- How do patterns differ between regions: developed and developping regions?
- Why do MENA and Western Europe value generosity more than other factors?
- Which countries behave similarly to Finland (happy) and to Afghanistan (unhappy)?
- What is the role of corruption perception?
📈 Visualizations:
1.Main factor for happiness
2.Influence of GDP rate on happiness
3.Western Europe- present vs lacking factors of happiness increasement
4.MENA happiness factors valuation
5.Freedom and happiness
6.Institutional trust and happiness
🧠 Insights
GDP per Capita, Healthy Life Expectancy, and Social Support remain the strongest and most consistent predictors of global happiness.
Generosity becomes influential only in specific contexts:
- in high-income, stable societies where basic needs are already fully met,
- and in MENA, where cultural and religious traditions make giving a centralcomponent of social identity and emotional well-being.
Institutional trust is a key driver of happiness in developed regions, where citizens’ confidence in public services, governance, and fairness directly strengthens feelings of freedom and life satisfaction.
Western Europe demonstrates the strongest alignment between freedom, institutional trust, and happiness, reflecting high transparency, effective governance, consistent social support systems, and a stable environment where psychological and civic factors drive well-being.
✅ Conclusions
- Trust, Health, and Economic Security are universal happiness drivers.
- Cultural and survival differences strongly modify how correlations appear.
- Developing vs developed countries: must be analyzed separately.
- Data interpretation must consider cultural context (e.g., generosity, corruption.)
Video: