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Economic and Social Development of Bangladesh pp 215–232Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Urbanization and Subjective Well-Being in Bangladesh

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Abstract

This chapter examines the determinants of life satisfaction among urban dwellers in two densely populated districts of Bangladesh, particularly how urban risk factors such as environmental risks affect individuals’ subjective well-being (SWB). Therefore self-reported happiness is analyzed as a function of perceived environmental quality, risk perceptions, and other conventional economic as well as non-economic variables such as interpersonal trust. The findings here, consistent with most international evidence, suggest that along with conventional variables, perceived environmental quality as well as road safety significantly affect SWB. More interestingly, the effect of an objective measure of neighborhood water quality diminishes when we control for perceived household water quality. These results have conventional policy implications for environmental policies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In recent decades a large volume of literature studying happiness has emerged within various disciplines, including economics and psychology (see Easterlin 1974; Clark and Oswald 1994; Diener et al. 1995a, 1995b; Easterlin 1995; Kahneman et al. 1997; Ng 1997; Oswald 1997; Frey and Stutzer 2000, 2002; Argyle 2001; Easterlin 2001; Di Tella et al. 2001, Frey and Stutzer 2002; Di Tella et al. 2003; Blanchflower and Oswald 2004; Di-Tella and MacCulloch 2006; Di-Tella and MacCulloch 2008; Clark et al. 2008; Stevenson and Wolfer 2008; Easterlin and Sawangfa 2009; Layard 2010).

  2. 2.

    Evidence from developing countries is found, for example , in Brinkerhoff et al. (1997), Biswas-Diener and Diener (2001), Kingdon and Knight (2007), Camfield et al. (2009), Knight et al. (2009), Ravallion and Lokshin (2010), Knight and Gunatilka (2010, 2012), Selezneva (2011), Asadullah and Chowdhury (2012), Mahmud and Sawada (2015).

  3. 3.

    For example, it has been observed that low pollution is associated with happiness (Di-Tella and MacCulloch 2008)Also, Welsch (2006) explains the relationship between environmental quality and life satisfaction.

  4. 4.

    In this chapter, we interchangeably use happiness and subjective well-being.

  5. 5.

    Overpopulation and a lack of regulation of industrial activities have created environmental problems badly affecting health and livelihood in Dhaka; the quality of air, water, and waste management is a major concern due to large population density and growth activities. Lack of regulations, compliance with rules and policies, and enforcement create environmental problems affecting the quality of life of citizens.

  6. 6.

    The information contained in the survey related to background risk was read as follows: available estimates suggest that the air pollution that causes lung problem/disease among children and elderly people kills almost 15,000 persons every year. If air pollution can be controlled, say reduced by 20–80%, then it will be possible to save 1200–3500 lives every year from air pollution . With regard to water pollution, approximately 60,000 deaths are attributable to problems with water quality, sanitation, and hygiene in Bangladesh. One illness, diarrhea, is linked to bad water, which can affect productivity. One of the leading causes of diarrhea is drinking, washing with, or bathing in contaminated water; and it kills about 20,000 children every year in Bangladesh. More than 2000 people are killed in road accidents every year; about 6 persons per day. The main causes of road accidents are poor road safety (infrastructure) and poor regulations, but young drivers are more susceptible to road accidents from reckless driving.

  7. 7.

    It may be noted here that according to the 2002 World Value Surveys (WVS), the distribution of happiness was: 2.1 percent not at all happy, 20.4% not very happy, 62.7% quite happy, and 14.8% very happy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Minhaj Mahmud

  2. University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Yasuyuki Sawada

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  1. Minhaj Mahmud
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  2. Yasuyuki Sawada
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Yasuyuki Sawada

  2. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Minhaj Mahmud

  3. Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan

    Naohiro Kitano

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Mahmud, M., Sawada, Y. (2018). Urbanization and Subjective Well-Being in Bangladesh. In: Sawada, Y., Mahmud, M., Kitano, N. (eds) Economic and Social Development of Bangladesh. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63838-6_11

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