The Surprising Global Map of a Flourishing Life

Imagine asking over 200,000 people across 22 countries—from Indonesia to Sweden, from Brazil to Japan—what makes their life good. That is exactly what the Global Flourishing Study did. It looked at six parts of a good life: happiness, health, meaning, character, relationships, and financial security.

The famous U-shape of well-being has vanished, with young adults now struggling more than any other age group.

Together, these form a picture of what researchers call "flourishing." One of the most surprising findings is about age. For a long time, researchers thought happiness followed a U-shape: people were less happy in their middle years and more content at the start and end of life. But this study found something different.

When pooled across all 22 countries, flourishing is basically flat from ages 18 to 49 and then goes up with age. Younger adults report lower flourishing than older adults. The study also found that being married, having a job, and attending religious services regularly are all associated with higher flourishing. People who went to religious services more than once a week scored about 0. 8 points higher on a 0 to 10 scale than those who never attended.

Childhood experiences mattered too. People who had good relationships with their parents, grew up in better financial conditions, and had excellent health as kids tended to flourish more as adults. Those who experienced abuse or felt like outsiders growing up tended to report lower flourishing later in life. Some patterns were nearly universal across countries, like married people reporting higher flourishing than divorced people. But other patterns varied a lot. In India and Tanzania, married people actually reported lower flourishing than single people. And while Indonesia reported the highest flourishing scores, Japan reported the lowest—by a wide margin. The study also found that wealthier countries often had higher financial security but lower meaning and purpose, suggesting that money and a sense of purpose do not always go hand in hand.