Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups

Viren Swami^{1

2}, Stefan Stieger³, Martin Voracek⁴, Toivo Aavik⁵, Hamed Abdollahpour Ranjbar⁶, Sulaiman Olanrewaju Adebayo⁷, Reza Afhami⁸, Oli Ahmed⁹, Annie Aimé¹⁰, Marwan Akel^{11

12}, Hussam Al Halbusi¹³, George Alexias¹⁴, Khawla F Ali¹⁵, Nursel Alp-Dal¹⁶, Anas B Alsalhani¹⁷, Sara Álvarez-Solas¹⁸, Ana Carolina Soares Amaral¹⁹, Sonny Andrianto²⁰, Trefor Aspden²¹, Marios Argyrides²², John Jamir Benzon R Aruta²³, Stephen Atkin¹⁵, Olusola Ayandele^{24

25}, Migle Baceviciene²⁶, Radvan Bahbouh²⁷, Andrea Ballesio²⁸, David Barron²⁹, Ashleigh Bellard³⁰, Sóley Sesselja Bender³¹, Kerime Derya Beydaǧ³², Gorana Birovljević³³, Marie-Ève Blackburn³⁴, Teresita Borja-Alvarez³⁵, Joanna Borowiec³⁶, Miroslava Bozogáňová^{37

38}, Solfrid Bratland-Sanda³⁹, Matthew H E M Browning⁴⁰, Anna Brytek-Matera⁴¹, Marina Burakova⁴², Yeliz Çakır-Koçak⁴³, Pablo Camacho⁴⁴, Vittorio Emanuele Camilleri⁴⁵, Valentina Cazzato^{30

46}, Silvia Cerea^{47

48}, Apitchaya Chaiwutikornwanich⁴⁹, Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon⁵⁰, Tim Chambers⁵¹, Qing-Wei Chen^{52

53}, Xin Chen⁵⁴, Chin-Lung Chien⁵⁵, Phatthanakit Chobthamkit⁵⁰, Bovornpot Choompunuch⁵⁶, Emilio J Compte^{57

58}, Jennifer Corrigan⁵⁹, Getrude Cosmas⁶⁰, Richard G Cowden⁶¹, Kamila Czepczor-Bernat⁶², Marcin Czub⁴¹, Wanderson Roberto da Silva⁶³, Mahboubeh Dadfar⁶⁴, Simon E Dalley⁶⁵, Lionel Dany⁴², Jesus Alfonso D Datu⁶⁶, Pedro Henrique Berbert de Carvalho^{67

68}, Gabriel Lins de Holanda Coelho⁵⁹, Avila Odia S De Jesus²³, Sonia Harzallah Debbabi⁶⁹, Sandesh Dhakal⁷⁰, Francesca Di Bernardo⁷¹, Donka D Dimitrova^{72

73}, Jacinthe Dion⁷⁴, Barnaby Dixson⁷⁵, Stacey M Donofrio⁶⁵, Marius Drysch⁷⁶, Hongfei Du⁷⁷, Angel M Dzhambov^{73

78}, Claire El-Jor⁷⁹, Violeta Enea⁸⁰, Mehmet Eskin⁸¹, Farinaz Farbod⁸², Lorleen Farrugia⁴⁵, Leonie Fian⁴, Maryanne L Fisher⁸³, Michał Folwarczny⁸⁴, David A Frederick⁸⁵, Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz⁵¹, Adrian Furnham⁸⁶, Antonio Alías García⁸⁷, Shulamit Geller⁸⁸, Marta Ghisi^{47

89}, Alireza Ghorbani⁹⁰, Maria Angeles Gomez Martinez⁹¹, Sarah Gradidge¹, Sylvie Graf⁹², Caterina Grano²⁸, Gyöngyvér Gyene⁹³, Souheil Hallit^{94

95}, Motasem Hamdan⁹⁶, Jonathan E Handelzalts^{88

97}, Paul H P Hanel⁹⁸, Steven R Hawks⁹⁹, Issa Hekmati¹⁰⁰, Mai Helmy^{101

102}, Tetiana Hill¹⁰³, Farah Hina¹⁰⁴, Geraldine Holenweger¹⁰⁵, Martina Hřebíčková⁹², Olasupo Augustine Ijabadeniyi¹⁰⁶, Asma Imam⁹⁶, Başak İnce¹⁰⁷, Natalia Irrazabal¹⁰⁸, Rasa Jankauskiene²⁶, Ding-Yu Jiang¹⁰⁹, Micaela Jiménez-Borja³⁵, Verónica Jiménez-Borja¹¹⁰, Evan M Johnson⁸⁵, Veljko Jovanović¹¹¹, Marija Jović¹¹², Marko Jović¹¹³, Alessandra Costa Pereira Junqueira^{114

115}, Lisa-Marie Kahle¹¹⁶, Adam Kantanista³⁶, Ahmet Karakiraz¹¹⁷, Ayşe Nur Karkin⁸¹, Erich Kasten¹¹⁸, Salam Khatib¹¹⁹, Nuannut Khieowan¹²⁰, Patricia Joseph Kimong⁶⁰, Litza Kiropoulos¹²¹, Joshua Knittel¹⁰⁵, Neena Kohli¹²², Mirjam Koprivnik¹²³, Aituar Kospakov^{124

125}, Magdalena Król-Zielińska³⁶, Isabel Krug¹²¹, Garry Kuan¹²⁶, Yee Cheng Kueh¹²⁷, Omar Kujan¹²⁸, Miljana Kukić³³, Sanjay Kumar¹²⁹, Vipul Kumar¹³⁰, Nishtha Lamba¹³¹, Mary Anne Lauri⁴⁵, Maria Fernanda Laus^{114

115}, Liza April LeBlanc⁸³, Hyejoo J Lee¹³², Małgorzata Lipowska¹³³, Mariusz Lipowski¹³⁴, Caterina Lombardo²⁸, Andrea Lukács¹³⁵, Christophe Maïano^{10

136}, Sadia Malik¹³⁷, Mandar Manjary^{129

138}, Lidia Márquez Baldó¹³⁹, Martha Martinez-Banfi^{140

141}, Karlijn Massar¹⁴², Camilla Matera¹⁴³, Olivia McAnirlin⁴⁰, Moisés Roberto Mebarak¹⁴⁴, Anwar Mechri¹⁴⁵, Juliana Fernandes Filgueiras Meireles¹⁴⁶, Norbert Mesko¹⁴⁷, Jacqueline Mills⁵¹, Maya Miyairi¹⁴⁸, Ritu Modi¹²², Adriana Modrzejewska¹⁴⁹, Justyna Modrzejewska¹⁵⁰, Kate E Mulgrew⁷⁵, Taryn A Myers¹⁵¹, Hikari Namatame¹⁵², Mohammad Zakaria Nassani¹⁵³, Amanda Nerini¹⁴³, Félix Neto¹⁵⁴, Joana Neto¹⁵⁵, Angela Nogueira Neves¹⁵⁶, Siu-Kuen Ng¹⁵⁷, Devi Nithiya¹⁵⁸, Jiaqing O²¹, Sahar Obeid¹⁵⁹, Camila Oda-Montecinos¹⁶⁰, Peter Olamakinde Olapegba²⁴, Tosin Tunrayo Olonisakin⁷, Salma Samir Omar¹⁶¹, Brynja Örlygsdóttir³¹, Emrah Özsoy¹¹⁷, Tobias Otterbring¹⁶², Sabine Pahl⁴, Maria Serena Panasiti^{28

163}, Yonguk Park¹⁶⁴, Muhammad Mainuddin Patwary^{165

166}, Tatiana Pethö³⁷, Nadezhda Petrova¹⁶⁷, Jakob Pietschnig¹⁶⁸, Sadaf Pourmahmoud⁸, Vishnunarayan Girishan Prabhu¹⁶⁹, Vita Poštuvan^{170

171}, Pavol Prokop^{172

173}, Virginia L Ramseyer Winter¹⁷⁴, Magdalena Razmus¹⁷⁵, Taotao Ru^{52

53}, Mirjana Rupar⁹², Reza N Sahlan¹⁷⁶, Mohammad Salah Hassan¹⁷⁷, Anđela Šalov¹⁷⁸, Saphal Sapkota¹⁷⁹, Jacob Owusu Sarfo¹⁸⁰, Yoko Sawamiya¹⁵², Katrin Schaefer^{181

182}, Michael Schulte-Mecklenbeck^{105

183}, Veya Seekis¹⁸⁴, Kerim Selvi¹⁸⁵, Mehdi Sharifi¹⁸⁶, Anita Shrivastava¹³¹, Rumana Ferdousi Siddique¹⁸⁷, Valdimar Sigurdsson¹⁸⁸, Vineta Silkane¹⁸⁹, Ana Šimunić¹⁷⁸, Govind Singh¹²², Alena Slezáčková¹⁹⁰, Christine Sundgot-Borgen¹⁹¹, Gill Ten Hoor¹⁴², Passagorn Tevichapong¹⁹², Arun Tipandjan¹⁹³, Jennifer Todd^{1

2}, Constantinos Togas¹⁴, Fernando Tonini¹⁰⁸, Juan Camilo Tovar-Castro¹⁹⁴, Lise Katrine Jepsen Trangsrud³⁹, Pankaj Tripathi¹²², Otilia Tudorel¹⁹⁵, Tracy L Tylka¹⁹⁶, Anar Uyzbayeva¹²⁵, Zahir Vally¹⁹⁷, Edmunds Vanags¹⁹⁸, Luis Diego Vega¹⁹⁹, Aitor Vicente-Arruebarrena⁹¹, Jose Vidal-Mollón¹³⁹, Roosevelt Vilar²⁰⁰, Hyxia Villegas¹⁹⁹, Mona Vintilă¹⁹⁵, Christoph Wallner⁷⁶, Mathew P White⁴, Simon Whitebridge¹⁵, Sonja Windhager^{181

182}, Kah Yan Wong²⁰¹, Eric Kenson Yau²⁰², Yuko Yamamiya²⁰³, Victoria Wai Lan Yeung^{202

204}, Marcelo Callegari Zanetti²⁰⁵, Magdalena Zawisza¹, Nadine Zeeni⁷⁹, Martina Zvaríková¹⁷², Ulrich S Tran⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Sport and Sensory Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
² Centre for Psychological Medicine, Perdana University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Department of Psychology and Psychodynamics, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria.
⁴ Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁵ Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
⁷ Department of Psychology and Behavioural Studies, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
⁸ Department of Art Studies, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Chittagong, Chattogram, Bangladesh.
¹⁰ Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Saint-Jérôme, Canada.
¹¹ INSPECT-LB: National Institute of Public Health, Clinical Epidemiology and Toxicology, Beirut, Lebanon.
¹² School of Pharmacy, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon.
¹³ Department of Management, Ahmed Bin Mohammad Military College, Doha, Qatar.
¹⁴ Faculty of Psychology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece.
¹⁵ Royal College of Surgeons Ireland-Bahrain, Adliya, Bahrain.
¹⁶ Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Midwifery, Munzur University, Tunceli, Türkiye.
¹⁷ Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Vision College of Dentistry and Nursing, Vision Colleges, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁸ Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Muyuna, Ecuador.
¹⁹ Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Southeast of Minas Gerais, Barbacena, Brazil.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
²¹ Department of Psychology, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion, United Kingdom.
²² Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos, Cyprus.
²³ Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.
²⁴ Department of General Studies, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²⁶ Faculty of Health Sciences, Health Research and Innovation Science Centre, Klaipeda University, Klaipeda, Lithuania.
²⁷ Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
²⁸ Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
²⁹ School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
³⁰ Faculty of Health, School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
³¹ Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
³² Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Yalova, University, Yalova, Türkiye.
³³ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.
³⁴ ÉCOBES-Research and Transfer, Cégep de Jonquière, Québec, Canada.
³⁵ Colegio de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador.
³⁶ Department of Physical Education and Lifelong Sports, Poznań University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.
³⁷ Institute of Social Sciences of the Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Košice, Slovakia.
³⁸ Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Institute of Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Psychology, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovakia.
³⁹ Department of Sports, Physical Education and Outdoor Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway, Bø in Telemark, Norway.
⁴⁰ Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, United States of America.
⁴¹ Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
⁴² Laboratory of Social Psychology, Aix-Marseille University, Aix-en-Provence, France.
⁴³ Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Bartın University, Bartın, Türkiye.
⁴⁴ CentroSan Isidoro University Center, Seville, Spain.
⁴⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
⁴⁶ Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education, and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
⁴⁷ Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
⁴⁸ Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
⁴⁹ Faculty of Psychology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁵⁰ Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Psychology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand.
⁵¹ School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
⁵² Lab of Light and Physio-Psychological Health, National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectrics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology & Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵⁴ Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America.
⁵⁵ Department of Psychology, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵⁶ Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Psychology and Guidance, Mahasarakham University, Maha Sarakham, Thailand.
⁵⁷ School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Penalolen, Chile.
⁵⁸ Comenzar de Nuevo Treatment Center, Monterrey, México.
⁵⁹ School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
⁶⁰ Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
⁶¹ Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
⁶² Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Obesity and Metabolic Bone Diseases, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
⁶³ Graduate Program in Food, Nutrition and Food Engineering, São Paulo State University, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁶⁴ Department of Addiction, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁶⁶ Faculty of Education, Academic Unit of Human Communication, Learning, and Development, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁶⁷ Body Image and Eating Disorders Research Group, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil.
⁶⁸ Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁶⁹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia.
⁷⁰ Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁷¹ Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy.
⁷² Faculty of Public Health, Department of Health Management and Healthcare Economics, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁷³ Environmental Health Division, Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁷⁴ Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada.
⁷⁵ School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Australia.
⁷⁶ Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
⁷⁷ Department of Psychology, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, Zhuhai, China.
⁷⁸ Health and Quality of Life in a Green and Sustainable Environment Research Group, Strategic Research and Innovation Program, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁷⁹ Department of Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁸⁰ Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania.
⁸¹ Department of Psychology, Koc University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
⁸² Department of Textile and Fashion Design, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.
⁸³ Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada.
⁸⁴ Discipline of Marketing, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁸⁵ Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, California, United States of America.
⁸⁶ Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway.
⁸⁷ Department of Education, University of Almería, Almería, Spain.
⁸⁸ School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
⁸⁹ Unità Operativa Complessa (UOC) Hospital Psychology, Padova University Hospital, Padova, Italy.
⁹⁰ Department of Social Sciences, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
⁹¹ Faculty of Psychology, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
⁹² Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czechia.
⁹³ Doctoral School of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
⁹⁴ School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon.
⁹⁵ Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
⁹⁶ Faculty of Public Health, Al-Quds University, East Jerusalem, Palestine.
⁹⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
⁹⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
⁹⁹ Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, United States of America.
¹⁰⁰ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Science, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.
¹⁰¹ Department of Psychology, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
¹⁰² Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Menoufia University, Shebin el Kom, Egypt.
¹⁰³ Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom.
¹⁰⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
¹⁰⁵ Department of Consumer Behavior, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
¹⁰⁶ Department of Sociology and Social Justice, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
¹⁰⁷ Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, Centre for Research in Eating and Weight Disorders, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁰⁸ Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁰⁹ Department of Psychology, National Chung Cheng University, Chia Yi, Taiwan.
¹¹⁰ Colegio de Comunicación y Artes Contemporáneas, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador.
¹¹¹ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
¹¹² Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹¹³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹¹⁴ Department of Psychology, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
¹¹⁵ Department of Nutrition, University of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
¹¹⁶ Faculty of Life Sciences, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
¹¹⁷ Sakarya Business School, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Türkiye.
¹¹⁸ Practice for Psychotherapy, Am Krautacker 25, Travemünde, Germany.
¹¹⁹ Faculty of Health Professions, Al-Quds University, East Jerusalem, Palestine.
¹²⁰ Asian Studies Department, Faculty of International Studies, Prince of Songkla University Phuket Campus, Phuket, Thailand.
¹²¹ School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
¹²² Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India.
¹²³ Institute of Anton Martin Slomsek, Primary School Montessori, Maribor, Slovenia.
¹²⁴ Department of Sociology and Social Work, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
¹²⁵ Department of General Education Disciplines, Astana IT University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
¹²⁶ Exercise and Sport Sciences Programme, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Malaysia.
¹²⁷ Biostatistics and Research Methodology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Malaysia.
¹²⁸ Oral Diagnostics and Surgical Sciences, UWA Dental School, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
¹²⁹ Department of Psychology, D.A.V. College, Muzaffarnagar, India.
¹³⁰ Department of Psychology, Kashi Naresh Government Post-Graduate College, Gyanpur, India.
¹³¹ Department of Psychology, Middlesex University Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
¹³² Department of Counselling Psychology and Social Welfare, Handong Global University, Pohang, South Korea.
¹³³ Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
¹³⁴ Faculty of Social and Humanities, University WSB Merito, Gdansk, Poland.
¹³⁵ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary.
¹³⁶ Cyberpsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), Saint-Jérôme, Canada.
¹³⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan.
¹³⁸ M.M.D. Public School, Brahmpuri, Muzaffarnagar, India.
¹³⁹ Department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, University of València, València, Spain.
¹⁴⁰ Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, Simón Bolívar University, Barranquilla, Colombia.
¹⁴¹ Life Science Research Centre, Simón Bolívar University, Barranquilla, Colombia.
¹⁴² Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
¹⁴³ Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures, and Psychology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
¹⁴⁴ Department of Psychology, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia.
¹⁴⁵ Faculty of Medicine of Monastir, Eya Medical Centre, Monastir, Tunisia.
¹⁴⁶ Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Community Medicine, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America.
¹⁴⁷ Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
¹⁴⁸ Department of Health Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
¹⁴⁹ Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Department of Medical Anthropology, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
¹⁵⁰ Institute of Pedagogy, University of Bielsko-Biala, Bielsko-Biala, Poland.
¹⁵¹ Department of Psychology, Virginia Wesleyan University, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States of America.
¹⁵² Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁵³ Department of Restorative and Prosthetic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Dar Al Uloom University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵⁴ Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
¹⁵⁵ REMIT-Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Universidade Portucalense, Porto, Portugal.
¹⁵⁶ Division of Research, Physical Education College of the Brazilian Army, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁵⁷ Physical Education Unit, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹⁵⁸ Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India.
¹⁵⁹ Social and Education Sciences Department, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, Jbeil, Lebanon.
¹⁶⁰ Institute of Social Sciences, Universidad de O'Higgins, Rancagua, Chile.
¹⁶¹ Department of Dermatology, Venereology, and Andrology, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
¹⁶² Department of Management, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
¹⁶³ Scientific Institute for Research and Healthcare, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
¹⁶⁴ Department of Psychology, Kyungnam University, Changwon, South Korea.
¹⁶⁵ Environment and Sustainability Research Initiative, Khulna, Bangladesh.
¹⁶⁶ Environmental Science Discipline, Life Science School, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.
¹⁶⁷ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
¹⁶⁸ Faculty of Psychology, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹⁶⁹ Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America.
¹⁷⁰ Slovene Centre for Suicide Research, Andrej Marusic Institute, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.
¹⁷¹ Department of Psychology FAMNIT, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.
¹⁷² Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Environmental Ecology and Landscape Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
¹⁷³ Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
¹⁷⁴ School of Social Work, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America.
¹⁷⁵ Institute of Psychology, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland.
¹⁷⁶ Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology, Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
¹⁷⁷ Management Department, College of Business Administration, A'Sharqiyah University, Ibra, Oman.
¹⁷⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia.
¹⁷⁹ KOSHISH-National Mental Health Self-Help Organization, Kusunti, Lalitpur, Nepal.
¹⁸⁰ Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
¹⁸¹ Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹⁸² Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹⁸³ Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁸⁴ School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
¹⁸⁵ Department of Psychology, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Türkiye.
¹⁸⁶ Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Gaz, Iran.
¹⁸⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
¹⁸⁸ Department of Business Administration, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland.
¹⁸⁹ Faculty of Social Sciences, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Valmiera, Latvia.
¹⁹⁰ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Psychology and Psychosomatics, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
¹⁹¹ Regional Department for Eating Disorders, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁹² Faculty of Humanities, Department of Psychology, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
¹⁹³ International Centre for Psychological Counselling and Social Research, Puducherry, India.
¹⁹⁴ Department of Psychology, University of the Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
¹⁹⁵ Department of Psychology, West University of Timişoara, Timişoara, Romania.
¹⁹⁶ Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Ohio, Columbus, United States of America.
¹⁹⁷ Department of Clinical Psychology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
¹⁹⁸ Faculty of Education, Psychology, and Art, University of Latvia, Rīga, Latvia.
¹⁹⁹ Vice-rectory for Teaching, Research, and Extension, Universida Latina de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
²⁰⁰ Department of Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.
²⁰¹ School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia.
²⁰² Department of Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China.
²⁰³ Department of Undergraduate Studies, Temple University, Japan Campus, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁰⁴ Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China.
²⁰⁵ Department of Physical Education, São Judas Tadeu University, São Paulo, Brazil.

PMID: 39841629
PMCID: PMC11753666
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313107

Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups

Viren Swami et al. PLoS One. 2025.

. 2025 Jan 22;20(1):e0313107.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313107. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Sport and Sensory Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
² Centre for Psychological Medicine, Perdana University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Department of Psychology and Psychodynamics, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria.
⁴ Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁵ Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
⁷ Department of Psychology and Behavioural Studies, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
⁸ Department of Art Studies, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Chittagong, Chattogram, Bangladesh.
¹⁰ Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Saint-Jérôme, Canada.
¹¹ INSPECT-LB: National Institute of Public Health, Clinical Epidemiology and Toxicology, Beirut, Lebanon.
¹² School of Pharmacy, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon.
¹³ Department of Management, Ahmed Bin Mohammad Military College, Doha, Qatar.
¹⁴ Faculty of Psychology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece.
¹⁵ Royal College of Surgeons Ireland-Bahrain, Adliya, Bahrain.
¹⁶ Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Midwifery, Munzur University, Tunceli, Türkiye.
¹⁷ Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Vision College of Dentistry and Nursing, Vision Colleges, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁸ Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Muyuna, Ecuador.
¹⁹ Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Southeast of Minas Gerais, Barbacena, Brazil.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
²¹ Department of Psychology, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion, United Kingdom.
²² Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos, Cyprus.
²³ Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.
²⁴ Department of General Studies, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²⁶ Faculty of Health Sciences, Health Research and Innovation Science Centre, Klaipeda University, Klaipeda, Lithuania.
²⁷ Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
²⁸ Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
²⁹ School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
³⁰ Faculty of Health, School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
³¹ Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
³² Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Yalova, University, Yalova, Türkiye.
³³ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.
³⁴ ÉCOBES-Research and Transfer, Cégep de Jonquière, Québec, Canada.
³⁵ Colegio de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador.
³⁶ Department of Physical Education and Lifelong Sports, Poznań University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.
³⁷ Institute of Social Sciences of the Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Košice, Slovakia.
³⁸ Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Institute of Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Psychology, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovakia.
³⁹ Department of Sports, Physical Education and Outdoor Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway, Bø in Telemark, Norway.
⁴⁰ Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, United States of America.
⁴¹ Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
⁴² Laboratory of Social Psychology, Aix-Marseille University, Aix-en-Provence, France.
⁴³ Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Bartın University, Bartın, Türkiye.
⁴⁴ CentroSan Isidoro University Center, Seville, Spain.
⁴⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
⁴⁶ Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education, and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
⁴⁷ Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
⁴⁸ Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
⁴⁹ Faculty of Psychology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁵⁰ Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Psychology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand.
⁵¹ School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
⁵² Lab of Light and Physio-Psychological Health, National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectrics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology & Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵⁴ Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America.
⁵⁵ Department of Psychology, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵⁶ Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Psychology and Guidance, Mahasarakham University, Maha Sarakham, Thailand.
⁵⁷ School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Penalolen, Chile.
⁵⁸ Comenzar de Nuevo Treatment Center, Monterrey, México.
⁵⁹ School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
⁶⁰ Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
⁶¹ Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
⁶² Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Obesity and Metabolic Bone Diseases, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
⁶³ Graduate Program in Food, Nutrition and Food Engineering, São Paulo State University, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁶⁴ Department of Addiction, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁶⁶ Faculty of Education, Academic Unit of Human Communication, Learning, and Development, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁶⁷ Body Image and Eating Disorders Research Group, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil.
⁶⁸ Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁶⁹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia.
⁷⁰ Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁷¹ Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy.
⁷² Faculty of Public Health, Department of Health Management and Healthcare Economics, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁷³ Environmental Health Division, Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁷⁴ Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada.
⁷⁵ School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Australia.
⁷⁶ Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
⁷⁷ Department of Psychology, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, Zhuhai, China.
⁷⁸ Health and Quality of Life in a Green and Sustainable Environment Research Group, Strategic Research and Innovation Program, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁷⁹ Department of Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁸⁰ Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania.
⁸¹ Department of Psychology, Koc University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
⁸² Department of Textile and Fashion Design, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.
⁸³ Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada.
⁸⁴ Discipline of Marketing, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁸⁵ Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, California, United States of America.
⁸⁶ Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway.
⁸⁷ Department of Education, University of Almería, Almería, Spain.
⁸⁸ School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
⁸⁹ Unità Operativa Complessa (UOC) Hospital Psychology, Padova University Hospital, Padova, Italy.
⁹⁰ Department of Social Sciences, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
⁹¹ Faculty of Psychology, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
⁹² Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czechia.
⁹³ Doctoral School of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
⁹⁴ School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon.
⁹⁵ Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
⁹⁶ Faculty of Public Health, Al-Quds University, East Jerusalem, Palestine.
⁹⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
⁹⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
⁹⁹ Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, United States of America.
¹⁰⁰ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Science, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.
¹⁰¹ Department of Psychology, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
¹⁰² Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Menoufia University, Shebin el Kom, Egypt.
¹⁰³ Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom.
¹⁰⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
¹⁰⁵ Department of Consumer Behavior, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
¹⁰⁶ Department of Sociology and Social Justice, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
¹⁰⁷ Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, Centre for Research in Eating and Weight Disorders, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁰⁸ Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁰⁹ Department of Psychology, National Chung Cheng University, Chia Yi, Taiwan.
¹¹⁰ Colegio de Comunicación y Artes Contemporáneas, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador.
¹¹¹ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
¹¹² Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹¹³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹¹⁴ Department of Psychology, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
¹¹⁵ Department of Nutrition, University of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
¹¹⁶ Faculty of Life Sciences, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
¹¹⁷ Sakarya Business School, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Türkiye.
¹¹⁸ Practice for Psychotherapy, Am Krautacker 25, Travemünde, Germany.
¹¹⁹ Faculty of Health Professions, Al-Quds University, East Jerusalem, Palestine.
¹²⁰ Asian Studies Department, Faculty of International Studies, Prince of Songkla University Phuket Campus, Phuket, Thailand.
¹²¹ School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
¹²² Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India.
¹²³ Institute of Anton Martin Slomsek, Primary School Montessori, Maribor, Slovenia.
¹²⁴ Department of Sociology and Social Work, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
¹²⁵ Department of General Education Disciplines, Astana IT University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
¹²⁶ Exercise and Sport Sciences Programme, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Malaysia.
¹²⁷ Biostatistics and Research Methodology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Malaysia.
¹²⁸ Oral Diagnostics and Surgical Sciences, UWA Dental School, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
¹²⁹ Department of Psychology, D.A.V. College, Muzaffarnagar, India.
¹³⁰ Department of Psychology, Kashi Naresh Government Post-Graduate College, Gyanpur, India.
¹³¹ Department of Psychology, Middlesex University Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
¹³² Department of Counselling Psychology and Social Welfare, Handong Global University, Pohang, South Korea.
¹³³ Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
¹³⁴ Faculty of Social and Humanities, University WSB Merito, Gdansk, Poland.
¹³⁵ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary.
¹³⁶ Cyberpsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), Saint-Jérôme, Canada.
¹³⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan.
¹³⁸ M.M.D. Public School, Brahmpuri, Muzaffarnagar, India.
¹³⁹ Department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, University of València, València, Spain.
¹⁴⁰ Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, Simón Bolívar University, Barranquilla, Colombia.
¹⁴¹ Life Science Research Centre, Simón Bolívar University, Barranquilla, Colombia.
¹⁴² Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
¹⁴³ Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures, and Psychology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
¹⁴⁴ Department of Psychology, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia.
¹⁴⁵ Faculty of Medicine of Monastir, Eya Medical Centre, Monastir, Tunisia.
¹⁴⁶ Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Community Medicine, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America.
¹⁴⁷ Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
¹⁴⁸ Department of Health Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
¹⁴⁹ Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Department of Medical Anthropology, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
¹⁵⁰ Institute of Pedagogy, University of Bielsko-Biala, Bielsko-Biala, Poland.
¹⁵¹ Department of Psychology, Virginia Wesleyan University, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States of America.
¹⁵² Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁵³ Department of Restorative and Prosthetic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Dar Al Uloom University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵⁴ Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
¹⁵⁵ REMIT-Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Universidade Portucalense, Porto, Portugal.
¹⁵⁶ Division of Research, Physical Education College of the Brazilian Army, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁵⁷ Physical Education Unit, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹⁵⁸ Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India.
¹⁵⁹ Social and Education Sciences Department, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, Jbeil, Lebanon.
¹⁶⁰ Institute of Social Sciences, Universidad de O'Higgins, Rancagua, Chile.
¹⁶¹ Department of Dermatology, Venereology, and Andrology, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
¹⁶² Department of Management, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
¹⁶³ Scientific Institute for Research and Healthcare, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
¹⁶⁴ Department of Psychology, Kyungnam University, Changwon, South Korea.
¹⁶⁵ Environment and Sustainability Research Initiative, Khulna, Bangladesh.
¹⁶⁶ Environmental Science Discipline, Life Science School, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.
¹⁶⁷ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
¹⁶⁸ Faculty of Psychology, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹⁶⁹ Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America.
¹⁷⁰ Slovene Centre for Suicide Research, Andrej Marusic Institute, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.
¹⁷¹ Department of Psychology FAMNIT, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.
¹⁷² Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Environmental Ecology and Landscape Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
¹⁷³ Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
¹⁷⁴ School of Social Work, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America.
¹⁷⁵ Institute of Psychology, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland.
¹⁷⁶ Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology, Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
¹⁷⁷ Management Department, College of Business Administration, A'Sharqiyah University, Ibra, Oman.
¹⁷⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia.
¹⁷⁹ KOSHISH-National Mental Health Self-Help Organization, Kusunti, Lalitpur, Nepal.
¹⁸⁰ Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
¹⁸¹ Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹⁸² Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹⁸³ Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁸⁴ School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
¹⁸⁵ Department of Psychology, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Türkiye.
¹⁸⁶ Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Gaz, Iran.
¹⁸⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
¹⁸⁸ Department of Business Administration, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland.
¹⁸⁹ Faculty of Social Sciences, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Valmiera, Latvia.
¹⁹⁰ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Psychology and Psychosomatics, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
¹⁹¹ Regional Department for Eating Disorders, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁹² Faculty of Humanities, Department of Psychology, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
¹⁹³ International Centre for Psychological Counselling and Social Research, Puducherry, India.
¹⁹⁴ Department of Psychology, University of the Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
¹⁹⁵ Department of Psychology, West University of Timişoara, Timişoara, Romania.
¹⁹⁶ Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Ohio, Columbus, United States of America.
¹⁹⁷ Department of Clinical Psychology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
¹⁹⁸ Faculty of Education, Psychology, and Art, University of Latvia, Rīga, Latvia.
¹⁹⁹ Vice-rectory for Teaching, Research, and Extension, Universida Latina de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
²⁰⁰ Department of Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.
²⁰¹ School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia.
²⁰² Department of Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China.
²⁰³ Department of Undergraduate Studies, Temple University, Japan Campus, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁰⁴ Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China.
²⁰⁵ Department of Physical Education, São Judas Tadeu University, São Paulo, Brazil.

PMID: 39841629
PMCID: PMC11753666
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313107

Abstract

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset-with data collected between 2020 and 2022 -to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that configural and metric invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional SWLS model has universal applicability. Full scalar invariance was achieved across gender identities and age groups. Based on alignment optimisation methods, partial scalar invariance was achieved across all but three national groups and across all languages represented in the BINS. There were large differences in latent SWLS means across nations and languages, but negligible-to-small differences across gender identities and age groups. Across nations, greater life satisfaction was significantly associated with greater financial security and being in a committed relationship or married. The results of this study suggest that the SWLS largely assesses a common unidimensional construct of life satisfaction irrespective of respondent characteristics (i.e., national group, gender identities, and age group) or survey presentation (i.e., survey language). This has important implications for the assessment of life satisfaction across nations and provides information that will be useful for practitioners aiming to promote subjective well-being internationally.

Copyright: © 2025 Swami et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

**Fig 1. Ordering and magnitude of standardised latent mean differences (Cohen’s d) between national groups (as compared to the United Kingdom; Left) and languages (as compared to English; Right).**

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups

Affiliations

Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups

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Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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