Socio-Economic Determinants of Happiness: The Case of Afghanistan

Abstract

The study empirically investigates the determinant factors of happiness in Afghanistan using ordered logistic and probit regression models. In the study, cross-sectional data collected from 74,351 people in the 2019 survey of the Asia Foundation in 34 provinces of Afghanistan was employed. Our findings confirm that age, marital status, employment, education level, income, foreign language ability, perception of the country’s future direction, and change in the household economic situation are the key variables affecting the happiness of individuals in the country. The positive impact of the family size variable on happiness has been the study’s key finding.