Human developmentand happiness: A cross-nations path analysis

This paper aimed to analysis correlation between human development, global competitiveness and happiness as well as the impact of human development, bothdirect and indirect, on happiness, with global competitiveness as moderator variable. Cross-section data on human development, global competitiveness and happiness indices were collected from 123 countries and employed in a path analysis model. The results show that the correlation between human development and happiness was positive and very strong. The countries that had high happiness index were the countries with high human development index. The correlation between human development and global competitiveness was positive and very strong. The correlation between global competitiveness and happiness was also positive and strong. The direct impact of human development on happiness was positive and significant. The indirect impact of human development on happiness, again, was positive and significant. It issuggested that human developmentsustainably be promoted in order to make nations competitive globally and then make the people happy.