**3. Data source**

In this chapter, we draw on the World Database of Happiness [16]. This is an online finding archive that consists of some 30.000 electronic findings pages, on which empirical research findings are described in standard format and terminology. Each page has a unique internet address. The structure of this finding archive is presented visually in **Figure 1**, and an example of a finding page is given in **Figure 2**. The technique is described in more detail by Veenhoven [17].

In this finding archive, one can search for distributional findings on happiness in a nation and year using a particular question. In this chapter, we can draw on preselections of distributional findings in the general population of nations, brought together in 'reports'. We use the Report on Average Happiness in Nations, which sorts all such findings first by type of happiness question used and further by nation and within the nation by year [18]. To date, the report covers 13.126 findings. Links in that lengthy list bring the user to full detail on electronic finding pages.

Analysis of these data is facilitated by entering them in a spreadsheet, the file 'TrendsInNations'. The latest version of that data set is available in Excel and can be downloaded from the World Database of Happiness website (available as Link 2 in the "Additional information" section) [19]. The file can be uploaded to statistical programs such as R and SPSS.

#### **Figure 1.**

*Structure of the World database of happiness.*

### *Well-Being across the Globe – New Perspectives, Concepts, Correlates and Geography*


#### **Figure 2.**

*Example of a finding page in the World Database of Happiness.*
