Living with others: How household size and family bonds relate to happiness

Mariano Rojas, Lina Martínez, Gerardo Leyva Parra, Roberto Castellanos, and Margarita Tarragona

Abstract

Caring and sharing – sustained by warm, close, and enduring relational bonds – are crucial to human happiness. In particular, family bonds promote lasting relationships, and households provide a context where these bonds develop and, in many cases, thrive. Thus, the field of wellbeing science should pay more attention to household configurations and intra-household relationships.

This chapter examines the relationship between happiness, household size, and family configuration. We make extensive use of the rich data provided by INEGI, the National Statistical Office of Mexico, through its ENBIARE 2021 survey, as well as additional information from Colombia. Our analyses contrast the situation in Mexico with that of European countries, drawing on data from the European Social Survey 2020.

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

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