Rural Urban Living and Level of Economic Development as Factors in Subjective Well Being
This article analyses the combined effect on subjective well being of rural versus urban environments and a country's level of economic development. There is a great deal of controversy regarding the subjective well being of people in different places. Fischer's works report greater happiness among village inhabitants than among urban residents. However, in 'Urbanism as a way of life' Wirth demonstrates the attractiveness of the urban environment in contributing to subjective well being. Our data set includes 29 countries participating in the 2012 ESS. The results confirm the hypothesis that in wealthier countries, rural living standards are high enough to create a higher level of subjective well being; while in less developed countries the rural environment cannot compete with urban resources for creating subjective well being.