Americans Over 60 Are Among The Happiest, While Young Adults Fall Behind (2024)

FAQs

Americans Over 60 Are Among The Happiest, While Young Adults Fall Behind? ›

People aged 60 and older in the U.S. reported high levels of well-being compared to younger Americans. In fact, the U.S. ranks in the top 10 countries for happiness in this age group. By 60, life can feel more secure, especially for people with good health, financial stability and strong social connections.

But Americans only fall so far behind their peers when it comes to those aged 59 and under. Happiness soars in the U.S. for those above 60, it seems. Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation ranked 10th in the global ranking of happiest people over 60.

In order to assess levels of happiness in all 50 states, personal finance company WalletHub looked at three key factors: emotional and physical well-being, work environment, and community and environment. Utah, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey were the happiest states, according to WalletHub's analysis.

Central and Southeastern Europe ranks highly

Young people in these regions are among the happiest in the world, with Lithuania taking the top spot. Lithuania's quality of life has grown substantially over the past two decades.

People begin life fairly happy. Around age 18, their happiness begins to decrease, reaching a low point in their 40s. But after age 50, happiness begins to rise again. This U-shaped happiness curve has emerged consistently in large studies of Western societies.

For more than 20 years researchers have been studying happiness as a “curve” and they've found that in your 40s you're at your lowest! And frustratingly, you might feel this way for no “real reason.”

A research team has now shed light on the question in a comprehensive meta-analytic review. The findings show that the respondents' life satisfaction decreased between the ages of 9 and 16, then increased slightly until the age of 70, and then decreased once again until the age of 96.

Unhappiest: Lousiana

According to WalletHub, Louisiana is the most unhappy state in the union, taking second-to-last place for the emotional and physical well-being and work environment categories.

For the seventh year in a row, Finland has landed the top spot on the World Happiness Report's annual ranking of the happiest countries in the world.

Topping the list was Hawaii, with an overall happiness score of 66.3. The youngest state in the Union, Hawaii ranked first for emotional and physical wellbeing, and has the highest average life expectancy of 80.7 years.

What is the best country to live in as a young person? ›

Australia, Denmark and Costa Rica are three of the best countries to live in for young adults. Whether you're eager for year-long sunshine, a laid-back lifestyle or a sense of social consciousness, or have just graduated from university and want to embark on an adventure, the following countries have plenty to offer.

Afghanistan, ranked last, has the lowest happiness on the scale (1.7) and is the only Asian country in the bottom 10, which is mostly populated by nations in Africa.

Average happiness of young people is on the decline across the West, it found. The shift has driven the US out of the top 20 happiest countries overall for the first time since reporting began. Lithuania took the top spot for young people, with its under-30 population rating their happiness an average of 7.6 out of 10.

Contrary to what you might think, it's not career achievement, money, exercise, or a healthy diet. The most consistent finding we've learned through 85 years of study is: Positive relationships keep us happier, healthier, and help us live longer. Period.

I feel age 40 to 55 is the best time to enjoy life. You should be very knowledgeable, the body, most likely, has not begun to reverse in strength too much, and most of life's bad things have already happened. So far, for me personally it is my current age. It is far better than any age I have been in the past.

Surprising Findings: The 2 Ages When People Are Happiest

But, a few years ago researchers identified the two ages in an adult's life when you are likely to be at your happiest. Experts from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences found that happiness peaks at the ages of 23 and 69.

Life satisfaction: The study revealed that life satisfaction follows a nuanced trajectory across the lifespan. It showed a decline between the ages of 9 and 16, possibly due to the significant physical and social changes accompanying puberty. However, life satisfaction gradually increased until around the age of 70.

Between the ages of around 20 and the decade between ages 40 to 50, people score progressively lower in measures of happiness on average. But after the middle years of their life, that trend is reversed so that average happiness becomes steadily greater, until it levels off when people are about 70.

Respondents of a variety of ages rated their life satisfaction, self-worth, happiness and anxiety levels on a scale from one to 10. In a U-shaped curve, it showed that being in one's 50s is the pits, while the ages of 16 and 70 are the twin peaks of happiness.

Most established adults we interviewed seemed to recognize that they were happier in their 30s than they were in their 20s, and this impacted how they thought about some of the signs of physical aging that they were starting to encounter.