Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women

Zhifei He, Zhaohui Cheng, Ghose Bishwajit and Dongsheng Zou
Additional contact information
Zhifei He: School of Politics and Public Administration, Southwest University of Political Science & Law, Chongqing 401120, China
Zhaohui Cheng: Chongqing Health Information Center, Chongqing 401120, China
Ghose Bishwajit: School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
Dongsheng Zou: School of Politics and Public Administration, Southwest University of Political Science & Law, Chongqing 401120, China

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: Socioeconomic status has shown to be associated with subjective health, well-being, satisfaction with overall life and estimation of happiness. The body of research concerning the question of whether higher economic status leads to better health and well-being are mostly from developed countries. The present study was therefore conducted among women in Nepal with an aim to investigate whether household wealth status is associated with satisfaction about (1) self-reported health, (2) happiness, and (3) life overall. Methods: Subjects were 5226 Nepalese women aged between 15 and 24 years. Cross-sectional data were extracted from round 5 of the Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (NMICS), conducted in 2014, and analyzed using chi-square tests of association, bivariate and multivariable regression methods. Results: Wealth status was significantly associated with satisfaction about health, estimation of happiness and satisfaction. Compared with women in the poorest households, the odds of positive estimation about overall happiness were respectively 30% higher for poorer ( p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.653–3.190), 80% higher for middle ( p = 0.001; 95% CI = 1.294–2.522), 64% higher for richer ( p = 0.006; 95% CI = 1.155–2.326), and 40% higher for richest households. The odds of reporting satisfaction about life were respectively 97% higher for poorer ( p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.680–2.317), 41% higher for middle ( p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.165–1.715), 62% higher for richer ( p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.313–2.003), and 31% higher for richest households ( p = 0.043; 95% CI = 1.008–1.700). Conclusion: Our results conclude that women in households with lower wealth status report poorer subjective health, quality of life and happiness. However, the findings need to be interpreted in light of the existing sociocultural conditions mediating the role of household wealth status on women’s lives.

Keywords: household wealth status; happiness; inequality; life satisfaction; self-reported health; subjective well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2836/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2836/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:12:p:2836-:d:190110

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().