Life Satisfaction is More Strongly Correlated with Flourishing Than Cantril’s Ladder

Abstract Policymakers and scholars alike seek an informative single-item measure of subjective well-being. While single-item measures are inherently limited, a single-item indicator can be time-sensitive, reliable, and valid if well-constructed for a particular purpose. Such as providing a population level summary of evaluative aspects of subjective well-being. We compare two measures of evaluative well-being: life satisfaction ( Overall , how satisfied are you with life as a whole these days? ) and Cantril’s ladder life evaluation using data in the Global Flourishing Study which includes over 200,000 participants in 22 countries. We find that life satisfaction is more strongly correlated with happiness, health, meaning, character, relationships, and financial security than life evaluation is. This result held in all 22 countries and with all dimensions of flourishing examined, including financial and material dimensions. While life evaluation is strongly related to financial aspects of well-being, life satisfaction provides a more comprehensive single-item assessment of overall subjective well-being.