{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T01:27:48Z","timestamp":1760059668745,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,3]],"date-time":"2025-07-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751500800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Applied Mathematics in Wroc\u0142aw University of Environmetal and Life Sciences"},{"name":"FCT\u2014Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia, I.P."},{"name":"Foundation for Science and Technology"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sustainability"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Happiness is defined as well-being and contentment with life. The growing imperative to evaluate well-being beyond economic growth alone has led to the formulation of holistic indices that better reflect quality of life and sustainable development goals. This has resulted in the emergence of the Happiness Score (HS), which adopts a more holistic and human-centred perspective on development and well-being. The present study takes the Happiness Score as a basis for the identification of some of the main determinants of happiness in an empirical and data-driven perspective. To this end, data from 145 countries was analysed, using statistical methodologies such as Generalised Linear Models (GLM), Principal Component Analysis (PCA), fuzzy set Qualitative Comparison Analysis (fsQCA) and the decision tree machine learning approach. A range of indices were considered to translate the reality of countries in different socio-economic dimensions, the level of development of each country, and the continent to which it belongs. The African continent demonstrates substantial disparities across virtually all variables and is frequently associated with the most unfavourable values for each index. The indicators that exerted the most profound influence on happiness were identified as the freedom to make life choices, literacy rate, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. These results inform policy strategies aligned with sustainable development, emphasising that enhancing happiness requires multidimensional action beyond economic indicators\u2014particularly in low- and middle-income countries.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/su17136121","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,3]],"date-time":"2025-07-03T10:45:11Z","timestamp":1751539511000},"page":"6121","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["More Is Still Not Enough\u2014What Is Necessary and Sufficient for Happiness?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0157-516X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joanna A.","family":"Kami\u0144ska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Applied Mathematics, Wroc\u0142aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 53 Grunwaldzka St., 50-357 Woc\u0142aw, Poland"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4289-9312","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andreia","family":"Dion\u00edsio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Gest\u00e3o, Escola de Ci\u00eancias Sociais, CEFAGE, Universidade de \u00c9vora, Largo dos Colegiais 2, 7000 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1644-9502","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paulo","family":"Infante","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Matem\u00e1tica, Escola de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, CIMA, Universidade de \u00c9vora, Rua Rom\u00e3o Ramalho, 7000 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Rita","family":"Carrilho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidade de \u00c9vora, Largos dos Colegiais 2, 7000 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socec.2017.04.001","article-title":"How does happiness relate to economic behaviour? 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