Money can’t buy happiness — and these countries prove it.
The first-ever Global Flourishing Study has determined the countries where people “flourish” the most.
Expands beyond the annual World Happiness Report — which often highlights the high quality of life in Nordic nations — the new research digs deeper into all areas of people’s lives beyond ranking how satisfied they are with their lives.
Researchers from Harvard University surveyed more than 200,000 people from 22 countries spanning the six populated continents — representing 64% of the world’s population.
Indonesia topped the list, followed by Israel, the Philippines, Mexico and Poland, according to findings that were published in the journal Nature Mental Health.
Next, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania and Argentina rounded out the top ten.
And despite being one of the wealthiest countries on the list, the US came in at a humbling No. 12, right behind Hong Kong, while the UK was found at a paltry No. 20.
Researchers defined flourishing as “a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good,” meaning that “a well-lived life is more than just health and happiness.”
The researchers added additional facets to determine a well-lived life, including happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability.
Indonesia is not a rich country, but it ranked highly in measures of relationships and pro-social character traits, which foster social connections and community.
On the opposite end of the scale, Japan was listed as the place where people flourish the least. Despite being a wealthy country where citizens tend to live well into old age, people in Japan are least likely to have a close friend.
“We’re not here to say those outcomes [wealth, longer lifespans] don’t matter a lot, or that we shouldn’t care about democracy, we shouldn’t care about economic growth, we shouldn’t care about public health,” Brendan Case, a study author, said, according to the Daily Mail.
“But it’s interesting to consider that the Global Flourishing Study raises some important questions about the potential tradeoffs involved in that process.”
The team recognized three key findings regarding age, mental health and connection to community — all of which were crucial factors in the US’ ranking.
For one, the connection between age and flourishing varies across countries.
It has long been believed that life satisfaction is typically higher in early adulthood, dips in middle age and rises again in old age.
However, this was not found to be true with flourishing — most obviously in the US and other high-income countries. In America, the flourishing factor rose steadily with age.
Mental health was also found to be a key factor. Physical health tends to stay the same with age, but poor mental health holds young people back — again, especially in the US.
Researchers also found that participating in weekly group activities — in particular, church — generally boosted people’s ability to flourish.
The only high-income countries in the top half of the list were Israel and Poland. The majority of those in developed countries reported less meaning, fewer and less satisfying relationships and communities, and fewer positive emotions than those in less developed locales.
In contrast, the people in countries that flourished may not have high incomes but have good friendships, marriages and community involvement — especially in religious communities.
“We need to figure out how to foster economic development without compromising meaning, purpose and relationships,” the authors of the study wrote in the New York Times.
They claimed their “work offers an opportunity to reflect on the ways in which much of the developed world may have gone astray and to explore the paths that might lead us back to happier lives.”
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