What does "Approval" represent?

[steveg700]

In the demographics window there's a row called "Approval". It's always 100% for both the highest and lowest civ every time I've looked. Is this is supposed to measure happiness or something?

 

[Nyanko]

Yeah, its basically happiness. Though I have no idea how its calculated

 

[Zwierzor]

100 % is ~13 happiness and higher. Lower amount of happiness result in lower approval.




Right, i found an old post for that:

The Demographics "Approval Rating" has nothing to do with diplomacy; it's strictly a measure of your Empire's Happiness Level. The base Approval Rating (Happiness Level of 0) is 60%; any Happiness surplus (or deficit) is multiplied by 3 and added to the base so a +10 Happy empire will be at 90% approval and a -10 Happy empire will be at 30% approval.