Last week I posted a survey asking people to rate their happiness in several areas of life which included career, relationships, health, finances, living situation, fulfillment level, and future outlook on life.
I categorized the survey by age range to get a general idea if happiness increases or decreases as we age, and in what areas of life.
More than 1000 people took the survey, so thank you to everyone who participated!
Here are the results:
Let’s look at the results by category and age.
Careers
Generally speaking, it would appear that happiness in career increases with age. This may be because people generally progress on their career paths over time, learning new skills, getting promotions, and probably earning more money.
Relationships
Happiness in relationships starts out above average, then dips in people’s 30’s, then begins to increase again. I wonder if that’s because people get more clear on who they are and what they want out of a partnership. I also wonder if the dip occurs because people who were in relationships in their 20’s realize their partners aren’t what they want long term. Based on some of the comments people made, their 30’s were a time of trying to find a suitable, mature partner who was ready for a commitment, and a lot of people being hurt by their exes.
Health
The health category has an interesting u-shaped graph. People are happiest with their health when they are young, and then again when they are much older. I would imagine younger people don’t experience the serious health issues that the elderly face, so it’s interesting to see that our 70+ years olds report being happier with their health than the younger folks. I wonder if that’s because as the body begins to fall apart in middle-aged people start focusing on health and taking better care of their bodies.
Financial
There is an obvious trend in this category. The older you get the more satisfied you are with your financial situation. That is to be expected as people generally earn more money as they get older. From the comments, the younger folks said they earned decent money but not enough to set aside for retirement. Perhaps as retirement approaches people pay more attention to saving for their future.
Living Situation
This question was probably a bit too vague, but I do think people got the gist. The trend here is a straight line upwards. So as people get older they are happier with their living situation which could include where they are living, the energy of the people they live with, and the quality of their homes. This is the outcome I expected.
Fulfillment Level
This is such an important indicator of happiness, and on this question the trend also was a clear increase in fulfillment as people got older. I think as we age we realize what’s important to us and what isn’t, and we start eagerly going after the life we desire, leaving the things we don’t desire behind us.
Future Outlook
Future outlook is how optimistic you feel about your future. Younger people felt better about their future outlook than the elderly. This may be because as we age we start to think about dying and there’s not much future in that is there? But young people’s hearts are full of promise and possibility.
Overall Happiness
If you look at average happiness by age, you will see that our happiness increases as we get older. I’m not sure I was expecting that. I would have predicted that we are happiest in our middle years. I think the trend shows that the longer we live the more we go after the things we think will make us happy.
Outliers
I want to acknowledge all the people who gave answers at the extremes (1’s and 5’s). I see that so many people are struggling with their lives and feeling scared, alone, and unhappy. I hope things get better for you. And to those sporting a lot of 5’s, that’s awesome. Maybe you can teach the rest of us how you did that.
Final Comments
We want to be happy, content and fulfilled with our lives, but finding happiness can be elusive. If you took the survey and gave some 1’s or 2’s as answers, examine what you can do to increase your happiness in those areas. What we focus on has a tendency to improve.
Don’t give up. And please reach out to professionals who can help you if you are feeling depressed or anxious, or want financial advice, or need career guidance, or have health issues. Get on top of the waves so they’re not crashing down around you.
Remember, if you want to ask your spirit guides how to move in a direction that will increase your joy, book a reading with me and we can find out!
And again, thank you to those who took the survey!
