Growth and Change in Well-being
For example, publics in Latin America and Eastern Europe – where per capita GDP has risen markedly in recent years – rate their lives and national conditions far more favorably than they did in Pew’s 2002 wave of interviewing. The same is true in China and India, both of which have experienced sizable gains in real income, and where publics are substantially happier today. The pattern is less pronounced, however, elsewhere in Asia. And in sub-Saharan Africa, where per capita GDP has increased in many nations, overall satisfaction measures are up modestly, at best.
Overall, the “middle income” countries are experiencing the most economic growth, the largest gains in personal well-being, and the greatest increases in national satisfaction. This group of countries includes a number of Eastern European countries, as well as nations like Argentina, which has rebounded from a devastating economic crisis earlier in the decade, and China, where soaring growth rates have led to increased life satisfaction and sky-high ratings for the national economy. These countries are now enjoying the fruits of economic globalization, and they continue to express solid support for many of the key features of a globalized economy – international trade, multinational corporations, and free markets.
Growth and Change in Well-being  | 80  | 70  | Argentina  | 60  | I a i S  | 50  | Pero  | Kenya  | China  | 40  | Poland  | Bulgaria  | 30  | Slovaki  | India  | Ukraine  | 20  | Russia  | 10  | North America  | Tanzania  | South Western America  | 0  | Western Europe  | Ivory  | Canada  | Eastern Europe  | US  | --10 Ivory Coast  | Middle East  | France  | Asia  | Nigeria  | 20  | Ttary  | Africa  | Indonesia  | --30  | --10  | 10  | 20  | 30  | 40  | 50  | 60  | 70  | Per Capita GDP Growth 2002-2007  | Corrre lation _59.  | Change in w e Hi-being index created by adding the change for each country from 2002- 2007 on current life  | Change satisfaction, persona progress and personal optimism. 