Religion and Happiness: Is There a Positive Relationship? : An econometric analysis based on Swedish data

Abstract: The Swedish public health authority has a target called equal health where the public health policy will create societal conditions for a good public health. There are different determinants of health which one by one affects the physical- and mental health and consequently the level of happiness. This study aims to investigate if, and how religiosity affects the level of happiness, using microdata from European Social Survey. From previous research on how religious affiliation affects life satisfaction, the variables religious belonging, attending religious services and praying was expected to be significant. To examine whether this hypothesis was true or not, an ordered probit model was used with three different model specifications. The result of the empirical study showed that religious attendance was significant when also controlling for religious belonging and praying. When only controlling for religious belonging, the variable showed a statistically significant relationship with happiness.