Does tackling the sustainable development goals lead to life satisfaction?

This study aims to determine whether life satisfaction is influenced by the level of achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the development of individual capabilities through adequate levels of financial well-being and health. To this end, the analysis uses data from the World Values Survey (WVS) on 80,174 individuals nested in 53 countries. For the cross-country analysis, a multilevel regression with fixed effects was used, analysing levels of life satisfaction in 53 countries around the world. It should be emphasised that the dependent variable and the independent variables at the individual level were measured by a survey using the Likert scale to assess people’s opinions and self-assessments. The SDG indicators were assessed through an overall score based on countries’ progress on each analytical theme, which can be interpreted as the percentage of progress on these goals across countries. The model is constructed step by step, starting with a null model without covariates, followed by models with individual covariates, and finally with macroeconomic level variables (SDGs). It is also reiterated that the model fit is assessed using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). The final model shows a strong and significant relationship between the SDG indicators and the level of satisfaction of the analysed global population, demonstrating that satisfaction is not only related to social conditions, but also has a strong relationship with environmental factors such as energy use (SDG 7) and measures for water and air quality (SDG 6 and 13, respectively). The study also finds that individual level variables significantly affect life satisfaction. Age and education increase life satisfaction, while gender decreases it. It can be concluded that the results are applicable at the individual level and can provide valuable insights for targeted policies and interventions in the areas of financial well-being, health and achieving the SDGs. However, it should be emphasised that the findings can be generalised to a certain extent to contexts similar to those of the countries included in the sample, especially those with comparable socio-economic characteristics.