The Journal of Socio-Economics 34 (2005) 674–685

Gender, religion and happiness

Rajen Mookerjee a,∗ , Krista Beron b
a Penn State University, 100 University Drive, Monaca, PA 15061, USA
b University of Pittsburgh, USA

Received 1 August 2003; received in revised form 1 March 2004

Abstract

Using an infrequently used sample of 60 countries this paper attempts to gauge the importance
of religion and gender on the levels of happiness across countries, after controlling for a set of
quality of life variables. The results suggest that both religion which is represented by the degree
of religious fractionalization, and gender as represented by the percentage of women in parliament,
have important effects on the degree of happiness. Specifically the paper finds that higher levels
of religious fractionalization reduce happiness, but greater representation of women in parliament
robustly increase happiness levels.
© 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.

JEL classification: Z10; Z12; J16

Keywords: Happiness; Gender; Religion

1. Introduction

The recent recognition among economists about the important potential linkages between
the degree of happiness exhibited by a country’s population and economic outcomes has
resulted in a growing stream of research that has been usefully summarized in Frey and
Stutzer (2002). These studies broadly confirm the important ways happiness is intertwined
with labor market outcomes (Clark et al., 2001), inflation and unemployment (Di Tella et
al., 2001), mental health (Murphy and Athanasou, 1999), productivity (Veenhoven, 1988),

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 724 773 3896; fax: +1 724 773 3557.
E-mail address: rxm24@psu.edu (R. Mookerjee).

1053-5357/$ – see front matter © 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.

doi:10.1016/j.socec.2005.07.012
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marriage and divorce and therefore poverty levels (Veenhoven, 1988), suicide rates and
resulting lost output (Koivumaa-Honkanen et al., 2001), crime and social unrest (Myers,
2000), income (Easterlin, 1995, 2001a), income inequality (Alesina et al., 2001) and overall
economic performance (Oswald, 1997), to name a few. Thus raising levels of societal
happiness has come to be viewed as an important goal of policymakers.1 But raising levels
of happiness in turn require an understanding of the factors that significantly impact the
levels of happiness. This paper is an attempt to contribute to this growing body of literature.
Specifically the paper uses happiness survey data for a group of 60 countries, and assesses
the important role that quality of life variables play in determining the level of happiness. In
addition and uniquely the paper goes a step further by attempting to gauge the contribution
of religion and gender to levels of happiness. To the best of our knowledge no other paper
has attempted to do this.
The exploration of the nexus between happiness levels and religion is motivated by
recent research which point to important ways in which religion impacts economic growth
and development and thereby income and presumably has the potential to impact happiness
levels (Guiso et al., 2003; Barro and McCleary, 2001). In addition the role of gender has been
highlighted in recent literature because gender has been found to improve service delivery
and governance infrastructure across countries which has the potential to raise happiness
levels (Mookerjee, 2002).
Our results confirm that both religion and gender have important effects on the level of
happiness across countries in our sample. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In
Section 2 we discuss the variables used to proxy for quality of life, religion and gender. In
Section 3 we present the model to be estimated with a discussion of the happiness data.
In Section 4 we discuss the empirical results with an eye towards distinguishing between
statistical significance and economic significance as noted by (McCloskey and Ziliak, 1996).
Section 5 contains some concluding remarks.

2. Variable selection

Several variables are used as a proxy for the quality of life across countries. The quality
of life factors chosen include the human development index (HDI), the Gastil Index of Civil
Liberty (Gastil Index), and Index of Economic Freedom (Economic Freedom), the Gini
Coefficient of Income Inequality (Gini), the Corruption Perceptions Index (Corruption).
To explore the relationship between religion and happiness we use an index of religious
fragmentation (Religious Fragmentation). Gender is proxied in our analysis by including
the percentage of women in Parliament (Women in Parliament). The rest of the section
provides a justification for the inclusion of these particular variables in the analysis.

2.1. Quality of life

Oishi et al. (1999) demonstrated that basic financial security and human survival are
important to all levels of development in the pursuit of happiness. Additionally as nations
1 Easterlin (2001b) notes that subjective data is also important for understanding and enriching economic mod-
eling especially as it relates to utility.
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develop, people desire greater social attainment to ensure happiness. Education leads to
improved employment options, allowing for a wider social network outside of the home.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is the variable we use to capture the interactions
between these variables, since the HDI accounts for a measure of income, longevity and
education, and therefore is a good composite for all three variables. Data for this index was
gathered from the United Nations Human Development Report for 2000, based on data
collected in 1998. A positive relationship is expected between HDI and happiness. The
higher is HDI, the higher should be the degree of happiness.
Easterlin (1995, 2001a), notes that relative income is an important variable in determining
the happiness levels of people. Therefore, a measure of income inequality was incorporated,
measuring the variation in relative wealth across a nation. The Gini coefficient provided
that measure. The higher the Gini coefficient the more unequal is income distribution across
the population. The expectation is a negative relationship between happiness and income
inequality. The World Bank’s World Development Indicators Report for 2000 provided the
Gini data collected for 1998.
Inglehart and Baker (2000) note that as development progresses, citizens begin to seek
freedoms such as higher quality governance and greater civil liberties to attain higher levels
of happiness. In addition, Sen (1999) has argued forcefully that freedom is both a basic
constituent of development in itself and an enabling force. Rather than the common focus
on income and wealth, Sen suggests a focus on substantive human freedoms, which encom-
passes both processes and opportunities.
As a result the Gastil Index and the index for economic freedom were included, to account
for freedoms related to basic human rights, as well as protection of property, freedom of
exchange and freedom to compete. The Gastil Index which represents the degree of civil
liberties present within a country is from Freedom House and the Fraser Institute is the
source of economic freedom data. One would expect to find that as the freedoms mea-
sured by the Gastil and economic freedom indices increase, levels of happiness increase as
well.
As Inglehart and Baker (2000) note, developed nations demand higher quality gov-
ernance and governmental institutions to gain happiness. Corruption must be eradicated
or at least kept to a minimum to meet the qualifications of a good governing structure.
Transparency International collects and publishes corruption data using the Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI does not measure corruption directly; rather the CPI
measures perceptions of corruption in a country as a proxy for the level of corruption.
The higher is the index number for a country; the lower is corruption in that nation.
One would, then, predict a positive relationship to exist between corruption levels and
happiness.

2.2. Religion

As nations undergo the process of development, they tend toward a common set of goals.
However, Inglehart and Baker (2000), find that though development tends to push nations
in a similar direction, the legacy that is left by the cultural and religious heritage of the
nation determines the unique values of the nation. For this reason, religion is a key factor in
determining values and consequently happiness levels in a nation. Religion has historically
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been a key agenda-setter of the values of a nation. This importance does not decrease as a
nation develops.2 People continue to hold on strongly to their religious beliefs as a major
determinant of their values and satisfaction with life.
The quality of the religious institutions of a nation plays a role in determining happiness
levels as well. Nations that have a state-regulated or sponsored religion have lower levels
of religiosity as measured by participation rates due to the fact that there is little to no
competition among churches, and therefore, no incentive to provide better religious service
to the congregations. People are more likely to participate in religious activities in societies
with greater religious pluralism, because competition among religions then promotes better
service delivery. People that are given the opportunity to choose religions and churches
are assumed to be happier due to the freedom of choice granted and the superior service
delivered (Iannaccone et al., 1997).
Barro and McCleary (2001) empirically establish a link between religious freedom and
happiness. However, Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2003), argue that this correlation does
not explain the whole picture. They argue that that conflict within religious groups within a
country matters more in determining satisfaction levels than the absolute amount of religious
diversity. Conflict occurs when a religious group views another group as a potential threat
to its interests. Significant religious conflict has the potential for grave and lasting harm.
On the other hand highly fragmented religious societies are thought to have lower levels of
conflict, because there is more potential that religious groups will locate along a continuum
of fundamentalism and dilute any conflicting views.
Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2003) show that religious conflict has profoundly nega-
tive effects on economic development, per capita income, economic growth, investment,
and human capital whereas fragmentation is found to have only a negligible effect on
these variables. Given this knowledge, we can hypothesize that in nations where the poten-
tial for religious conflict is high, development, growth, income, and investment is low
due to the negative effects of religious polarization. When levels of development, income,
and other economic variables are low regardless of the development classification of the
nation, levels of happiness tend to be low. Therefore, a nation with a lower potential for
religious conflict or one of greater religious diversity should be comprised of happier
citizens.
For these reasons, a measure of religious fragmentation was included to account for
the possibility of freedom of religious choice, exposure to minority groups and decreased
religious polarization. The data on religious fragmentation are taken from Anckar and
Eriksson (1998). The data are for the year 1998. While the literature suggests a positive
relationship between religious fragmentation and happiness, recent religious trends in rich
and poor countries suggest that religious differences are a major source of friction in the
work place and society at large.3 Hence the relationship between religious fragmentation
and happiness could be positive or negative for our sample of countries.

2 In a recent international poll conducted by the Pew Research Center religion was found to be important for the

citizens of several countries. For instance, 59% of American poll respondents said religion was very important in
their lives compared to 35% or less for other rich countries. See “Americans polled: Religion Priority” Pittsburgh
Post Gazette, December 20, 2002.
3 See “Divine Conflict” Pittsburgh Post Gazette, February 4, 2003.
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2.3. Gender

Recent research has shown that larger percentages of women in elected office and in the
executive improve the aggregate quality of governance across countries (Mookerjee, 2002).
More recently Beasley and Case (2003) document and summarize the literature on the
changes in government expenditures on goods and services that take place as more women
are elected to office. Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2001) and Pande (2003) present evidence
of similar shifts in expenditure patterns in less developed countries. Not surprisingly there
has been a movement worldwide to involve more women in the political life of a country
because women are thought to promote greater attention to social welfare and quality of
life issues and shift spending towards those areas. Thus we expect that a greater percentage
of women in parliament will result in greater levels of happiness. The data (United Nations,
2000) on women in parliament is the average percentage of women in both the upper and
lower houses of parliament in a particular country. In some instances data was available
only for the lower house of parliament.

3. The model

To test our hypothesis that the level of happiness across countries is influenced by a set
of quality of life variables together with religion and gender as discussed in the previous
section, we employ cross sectional analysis. Specifically, the degree of happiness in each
country is regressed on our measure of religion and gender and the set of quality of life
variables. The equation estimated takes the following form:
degree of happinessi = α0 + α1 quality of lifei + α2 religioni + α3 genderi + εi (1)
where, ε is the white noise error term and i represents each country in the sample. For
each variable we get one observation per country. The equation was estimated using OLS.
Before reporting and discussing the empirical results in the next section, we first discuss
the data for our dependent variable – degree of happiness – in detail.

3.1. Happiness data

Data for the dependent variable, the degree of happiness is available from two sources.
The World Database of Happiness (Veenhoven, 2001), contains data for 60 nations repre-
senting all income levels and geographic locations for the year 1998.4
This study uses the data from the world Database of happiness for two reasons. First, the
World Database of Happiness has countries in the sample which provides for a richer mix
of countries with greater variation in the data. In addition this data has rarely been used in
analysis related to happiness by economists; however, it has been used more frequently by
for instance psychologists. In the data set participants are assessed by means of surveys in

4 A second source of happiness data is Richard Inglehart’s World Values Survey (Inglehart, 2000). Fewer

countries are included in this data set (46) and they represent all countries and all income levels. This data set has
been used by almost all studies on happiness to date by economists (Frey and Stutzer, 2002).
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Table 1
World database of happiness summary statistics
Mean Standard deviation Minimum Maximum
All countries (N = 60) 6.558 1.019 3.3 8.1
Industrialized countries (N = 26) 6.935 0.776 5.3 8.1
Developing countries (N = 34) 6.271 1.096 3.3 8.1
Note: Scores range from 0 to 10, with 0 = dissatisfied and 10 = satisfied.

general public samples. Scores are based on responses to the question, “All things consid-
ered, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your life as a whole now?”5 The scores range
from 0 = dissatisfied, to 10 = satisfied. Table 1 reports some summary statistics for this data
set. For all 60 countries in the sample the mean level of happiness is 6.558 out of possible
score of 10. Because our data set includes both industrialized and developing countries
we also provide summary statistic for the two groups. The mean score for both groups is
remarkably similar with the mean degree of happiness for the industrialized slightly higher
at 6.935 compared to the developing country group of 6.271. The finding that levels of
happiness in poor countries is almost as high as in rich countries given the attendant lack of
basic quality of life enhancing amenities in poor countries can be explained by accounting
for the fact that no change in happiness levels are observed over time (Cummins, 1998) and
that preferences appear to be adaptive at the individual level, which Cummins (1995) has
labeled Homeostasis.

4. Empirical results

Equations 1–6 in Table 2 present the empirical results. All the equations are run with a
dummy variable to represent different continents and capture any systematic differences in
happiness levels due to location specific factors. However, the continental dummy was found
to be always insignificant so we do not report the coefficients in Table 2.6 We first explore
the separate effects of religious fragmentation (Equations 1 and 2) and gender (Equations 3
and 4) on happiness levels, and then include both variables together in explaining happiness
levels (Equations 5 and 6).
Equation 1 reports the results of regressing religious fragmentation and other quality of
life variables including HDI on levels of happiness in 60 countries. All the quality of life
variables except Gastil’s Index is statistically significant,7 however, both the HDI Index
and the Gini coefficient do not have the hypothesized signs. It might be easier to explain

5 Because the question asks participants about the level of happiness “now”, we choose to use data on the

independent variables also for the year 1998, whenever possible.

6 We also experimented with including a measure of legal structure and origin in the estimates. As La Porta et

al. (1997) show this variable can potentially eliminate problems of reverse causality. However the variable was
never significant.
7 If one views Gastil’s Index as a proxy for democracy, then these results are contrary to the extant literature

which documents a positive statistically significant relationship between democracy and happiness levels. The
results nevertheless should be viewed with caution since statistical insignificance is not the same as economic
insignificance.
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R. Mookerjee, K. Beron / The Journal of Socio-Economics 34 (2005) 674–685
Table 2
Dependent variable: degree of happiness
Independent variables Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 Equation 4 Equation 5 Equation 6
Constant 3.553 (2.57)* 3.632 (3.08)* 3.250 (2.20)* 3.281 (2.82)* 3.473 (2.34)** 3.313 (2.78)**
Religious fragmentation −0.844 (1.88)*** −0.467 (1.88)*** −0.622 (1.23) −0.071 (1.17)
HDI −3.762 (2.50)* −2.777 (1.82)*** −3.352 (2.11)**
Gastil’s Index 0.089 (0.87) 0.061 (0.71) 0.342 (0.34) 0.018 (0.23) 0.068 (0.66) 0.023 (0.27)
Economic freedom 0.554 (2.84)* 0.447 (2.62)* 0.432 (2.13)** 0.324 (2.05)** 0.499 (2.41)** 0.334 (1.95)**
GINI 0.027 (2.16)** 0.029 (2.62)* 0.341 (2.62)* 0.037 (3.50)* 0.029 (2.13)** 0.036 (3.18)*
Corruption 0.269 (3.01)* 0.239 (2.81)* 0.207 (2.05)** 0.170 (1.95)* 0.224 (2.21)** 0.172 (1.94)**
GDP per capita (log) 0.190 (0.13) 0.478 (0.34) 0.473 (0.34)
Education −6.127 (5.57)* −6.690 (6.20)* −6.674 (6.10)*
Life expectancy 3.579 (2.14)** 4.747 (3.11)* 4.653 (2.78)*
Women in parliament 1.980 (1.99)*** 3.478 (2.64)* 1.696 (1.91)*** 3.436 (2.54)*
R̄2 adj 0.433 0.559 0.393 0.634 0.399 0.627
F 8.502* 12.021* 7.035* 13.151* 6.311* 11.457
N 60 60 57 57 57 57
Note: Absolute value of t-statistics in parentheses. Significance levels reported are heteroskadastic robust.
* Significant at 1% level.
** Significant at 5% level.
*** Significant at 10% level.
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the positive relationship between the degree of income inequality and happiness. Perhaps
greater income inequality is associated with a more mobile freer society which makes for
a happier population. This relationship holds true across all six regressions. The negative
relationship between HDI and degree of happiness is difficult to explain. To explore this
linkage further we separate out the three components of HDI – per capita GDP, education
and life expectancy – and include them separately as independent variables. The inclusion
of per capital GDP also controls for differences in levels of development across countries
in the sample.
While per capita GDP is insignificant and remains so across all regressions,8 it is dif-
ficult to downplay the economic significance of GDP in determining happiness levels. As
hypothesized the life-expectancy variable is statistically significant and has the right sign.
The educational attainment variable on the other hand dominates the other two variables in
terms of coefficient size and level of significance; however, the relationship with happiness
is negative, implying higher levels of education attainment are associated with lower levels
of happiness. It is this negative correlation that appears to be responsible for the negative
correlation between HDI and happiness.
In both Equations 1 and 2 the religious fragmentation variable is statistically significant
at the 10% level, but the sign is negative, implying higher levels of religious fragmentation
are associated with lower levels of happiness. Apparently greater homogeneity in religious
beliefs promotes greater happiness.9 The positive partial correlation between the extent of
religious fragmentation and happiness is depicted in Chart 1.
Equations 3 and 4 explore the nexus between gender, which is represented by the per-
centage of women in parliament, and happiness after controlling for the same set of quality
of life variables. Both equations do not include the religious fragmentation variable. In these
two equations the number of countries is fifty-seven because three of the countries did not
have data on the percentage of women in parliament. Equation 3 uses the HDI variable,
whereas Equation 4 uses the components of the HDI Index. As hypothesized the impact of
women in parliament on the degree of happiness is positive and statistically significant at the
one percent level. This result gives credence to recent policy initiatives in many countries
ranging from Afghanistan and Iraq, to France to involve women more deeply in the politi-
cal life of a country.10 The positive partial correlation between the percentage of women in
parliament and happiness is depicted in Chart 2 and points to the economic significance of
gender on enhanced levels of happiness across our sample of countries.
Equations 5 and 6 present the results obtained when both religious fragmentation and
the percentage of women in parliament are included in the same regression. Equation 5 uses

8 Frey and Stutzer (2002) point to several studies that document a similar result for OECD countries. Because

our sample contains 34 LDC’s this may appear to be a surprising result, in that one would expect income to play a
more important role the lower the level of development and living standards. But, as noted in Table 1, the difference
in the mean degree of happiness between the industrialized and developing countries is almost non-existent which
implies that it is not an important determinant of happiness. Finally, even when we estimated a separate regression
for the developing countries income remained insignificant.
9 It is possible that the religious fractionalization variable is proxying for ethnic fractionalization. To test this we

included an index of ethnic fractionalization in regressions one and two. However the variable was insignificant
and the sign and significance of the religious fractionalization variable remained unchanged.
10 According to the World Bank (2001) quotas for women in legislative bodies exist in legislation in 30 countries.
682 R. Mookerjee, K. Beron / The Journal of Socio-Economics 34 (2005) 674–685

Chart 1.

Chart 2.
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the HDI variable, whereas Equation 6 employs the three component variables of HDI. In
both equations the impact of gender on the degree of happiness is positive and statistically
and economically significant, but the religious fragmentation variable is now statistically
insignificant. This finding may suggest that the quality of life enhancing policies typically
attributed to women appear to be more important than religious homogeneity in determining
happiness levels.11 On the other hand given recent findings about the important role of reli-
gion on cultural attitudes, institutions, economic attitudes and growth as discussed earlier, it
is difficult to dismiss the economic significance of religion in determining happiness levels.

5. Conclusion

Using a sample of 60 countries – industrialized and developing – we document several

interesting findings. First we show that indeed both religion and gender have important
linkages to the level of happiness in a country. Specifically we document that greater levels
of religious diversity, as measured by an index of religious fragmentation, reduces the
level of happiness. Second our results strongly support a finding that greater participation
by women in politics is justified. Third our results show that quality of life variables are
important in determining the level of happiness within a country, and that the impact of these
quality of life variables on the degree of happiness are remarkably similar in industrialized
and developing countries. Fourth the study documents that income levels are not related to
happiness levels in both rich and poor countries. Finally, the paper documents important
differences in the results obtained in this paper and other studies, especially with regard to
the impact of civil liberties, education, and income distribution on the level of happiness.
No doubt these results partly reflect the use of the World Database of happiness as the
dependent variable. Nevertheless it points to the need for further research in this area.

Acknowledgement

We wish to thank an anonymous referee for comments that have substantially improved
the paper.

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