Can reliable international comparisons of human flourishing be made using subjective survey data?

Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates

“The idea that human flourishing is the proper measure of a good society goes back to Aristotle, but modern attempts to compare flourishing internationally using subjective survey data raise difficult questions. That is illustrated in the scatter chart shown above – which compares the degree of human flourishing in different countries as measured by the new Global Flourishing Study (GFS) with average life evaluation data for those countries using the methodology of the World Happiness Report (WHR).” (07/01/26)

https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/07/can-reliable-international-comparisons.html