Bureau of National statistics
Agency for Strategic planning and reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Chapter 10. Subjective Wellbeing
Subjective Wellbeing
A significant role in a person's life is played by his subjective perception of the level of his own income, education, health, living conditions, etc., regardless of the objective state of each of them, for example, actual income or physical health63). During the MICS, women aged 15-24 were asked a number of questions, the purpose of which was to find out how satisfied young women of this age group are with various aspects of their lives, such as: family life, friendships, education, work, income, health status, living conditions (the environment in which she lives, including the area and the dwelling), the attitude of others, their own appearance. Life satisfaction is a measure of a person's perception of the level of their own well–being. Understanding how satisfied young women are with various areas of their lives allows us to get a complete picture of the life situations in which young women find themselves. It is also possible to distinguish between the concepts of "life satisfaction" and "happiness". Happiness is a fleeting emotional state, influenced by numerous factors, starting with the weather and ending with possible tragic events in life. A person can be satisfied with his job, income, family life, friends and other aspects of his life, but at the same time feel unhappy or vice versa. In addition to a number of questions about life satisfaction, respondents were asked a few simple questions about happiness and belief in the possibility of changing their lives for the better in the future (in a year). To help respondents answer a set of questions about happiness and life satisfaction, they were shown a card with "smiling" and "sad" faces that corresponded to different answers (see questionnaires in Appendix F): "fully satisfied", "partially satisfied", "neither one nor the other", "partially dissatisfied" and "completely dissatisfied". The same principle was used in relation to the question of happiness – this time the answers range from "very happy" to "very unhappy". Table SW.1 shows the proportion of young women aged 15-24 years who are completely or partially satisfied with the areas of their life chosen for the survey. Please note that for three areas: satisfaction with studies, work and income – the denominators are limited by the number of people who are currently studying, have jobs and incomes. Of these different areas of life, approximately 97 percent of young women are most satisfied with family life (97.1 percent), appearance (97.2 percent), attitude from others (97.1 percent), health status (96.6 percent) and friendships (96.7 percent). 92.4% of young women are satisfied with the living conditions (environment). Women are the least satisfied with their current income (89.0 percent): 75.0 percent of young women have no income at all. Only 4.6% of young girls aged 15-19 and 40.5% of women aged 20-24 have incomes. 89.0 percent of women aged 15-24 expressed satisfaction with income. In general, 96.4% of women aged 15-24 years are fully or partially satisfied with their studies (out of 49.6% of women of this age who attend educational institutions). 97.5% of women aged 20-24 are fully or partially satisfied with their studies (out of 21.5% of women of this age who attend educational institutions). Satisfaction with living conditions (environment) among young women by region varies from 78.1 percent - in Almaty to about 99 percent - in Mangistau and Karaganda regions. Less than 90 percent of women living in Astana and Aktobe region expressed satisfaction with their studies (87.7 and 89.0 percent, respectively). There are no significant differences in the main characteristics for conclusions on satisfaction in certain aspects of the life of young women.