The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is a massive survey that attempts to measure the US nation's general welfare, much like the Dow Jones Industrial Average portrays the health of the stock market. The survey is based on interviews of more than 100,000 people so far, and interestingly, the findings can be broken down by occupation, commute time and exercise habits. Eventually, the data could even be used to compare health and happiness by ZIP code.

"There's never been anything quite like it," said Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences, brought in by Gallup to discuss the potential uses for the data. "What is the experience of the weekend? What is the experience of the weekday for someone who is sick and has to go to work in the morning? We are going to learn a great deal about what are the determinants of actual happiness."

Read more about the survey here in this article from Associated Press.