Does a Country's Generosity Spark Happiness?

Inspired by the idea that happiness is linked to generosity, I thought it would be interesting to visualize the happiest countries and observe if there's a pattern between happiness and generosity. My hypothesis was the more generous a country is, the happier they are. The visualization is based on the data from the World Happiness Report (2023) and the Charity Foundation’s Aid (CFA)’s World Giving Index (2023). 

Course: Data Visualization at University of Toronto
Professor: Bianca DiPietro
Tools: Figma
Sector: Social Design

Design Rationale

For the design of the data visualization, I ordered the countries by happiness ranking so that the reader has a relative idea of each country’s well-being before examining its generosity levels. To compare between happiness and giving index, I used a proportional area chart with subtle measurement scales. By showing a comparison of the semi circle’s scale, my goal was for the reader to quickly grasp the differences between the two metrics.

The top yellow semi circle represents the happiness index while the gray semi circle at the bottom represents the giving index. A grey dashed line representing the giving index average is displayed to provide indication that the majority of the 15 happiest countries are above the average giving index. I used a radial bar graph within the giving semi circle to compare the methods of giving within each country.

Each method of giving was represented by warm colours such as pink, red, and a warm purple to evoke a sense of love, warmth and comfort. Additionally, I used a bar graph to compare between the highest and lowest percentage of methods of giving by country. This provides more context to the visualization when compared to the happiness index. For example, the United States is ranked lowest within the 15 countries in terms of happiness, however they’re ranked the highest for helping a stranger. 

Reflection

Although the visual result ended up not having a significant correlation or pattern, I think it’s successful in how it generates questions and conversations surrounding the relationship between happiness and generosity. For example, why is Israel below the average for the Giving Index but is ranked highly at number 3 in the Happiness Index? How is Denmark facilitating a culture that is so giving yet really happy? Why is the United States ranked lowest within the 15 countries even though they’re the most giving? In order to produce a more accurate picture in the future, it would be interesting to compare all the countries including those with the lowest ranking in the happiness index. 

Sources

Charities Aid Foundation. (n.d.). CAF World Giving Index. Retrieved from https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/research/caf-world-giving-index

‍Helliwell, J. F., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (Eds.). (2023). World Happiness Report 2023. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Retrieved from https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/