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Tajikistan|life|May 26, 2017 / 11:34 AM
Subjective wellbeing and life satisfaction in Tajikistan is much higher than average in region — WB survey

AKIPRESS.COM - Households in Tajikistan are particularly vulnerable to shocks. Among many other indicators, the Listening to Tajikistan (L2TJK) survey continuously monitors life satisfaction in Tajikistan, providing information that can help to quantify the severity of shocks, and their importance for wellbeing, the World Bank reports.

A comprehensive review of the first 24 rounds of the L2TJK survey (covering the period between May 2015 to December 2016) has found strong associations between monthly changes in subjective wellbeing on the one hand, and food security, income, employment, sending household members abroad, illness, and paying for medical expenses on the other.

Identifying the drivers of changes in subjective wellbeing and life satisfaction is important because many traditional economic indicators, which tend to focus on monetary values, do not capture similar information. For instance, life satisfaction is often only weakly associated with overall economic activity, a finding commonly referred to as the Easterlin Paradox. The differences between monetary and subjective measures of welfare can be striking: if we were to focus on GDP only, we would be blind to the fact that life satisfaction in Tajikistan is much higher than the average in the region, even in comparison to richer countries.

Another reason to monitor subjective wellbeing in Tajikistan is that such measures can allow analysts to quickly identify factors that drive improvements or deteriorations in people’s wellbeing. The L2TJK results show that although the average level of subjective wellbeing across the entire population in Tajikistan is remarkably stable over time, changes from one month to the next at the household level are also common.

Although these measures are subjective, they indicate a durable relationship between food security and subjective wellbeing that might not be otherwise evident using traditional monetary indicators.

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