Definition
The Life Evaluation Index measures respondents' perceptions of where they stand now and in the future. Building on the earlier work by Hadley Cantril and the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale6, Gallup measures life satisfaction by asking respondents to place the status of their lives on a "ladder" scale with steps numbered from 0 to 10, where 0 indicates the worst possible life and 10 the best possible life. Individuals who rate their current lives a "7" or higher AND their future an "8" or higher are "thriving." Individuals are "suffering" if they report their current AND future lives as a "4" and lower. All other individuals are "struggling."
INDEX QUESTIONS
- Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time? (WP16)
- Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. Just your best guess, on which step do you think you will stand in the future, say about five years from now? (WP18)
INDEX CONSTRUCTION
Index scores are calculated at the individual record level. For each individual record the following procedures applies. Individuals who rate their current lives a "7" or higher AND their future an "8" or higher are "thriving," code 1. Individuals are "suffering" if they report their current AND future lives as a "4" and lower, code 3. All other individuals are "struggling," code 2. A respondent must have answered both questions to have indexes calculated. The final country-level index is a variable that codes respondents into one of three categories of wellbeing and represents the percentage of respondents in each category. Country-level weights are applied to this calculation.
RELIABILITY
The Life Evaluation Index has a Cronbach's alpha of .91 when aggregated at the country level.