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Happiness among wealthier Western populations dips in midlife. Buying a sports car in your 40s may be more about your happiness than a need to spice things up. New research based on global data has found that “life satisfaction followed a predictable trajectory depending on where people lived. In countries such as the U.K. and the U.S., life satisfaction followed a U-shape, dipping to a low in midlife. In Africa it was low throughout, and in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Latin America it declined with age.” The researchers think the dip has to do with work sacrifices. “This is the period at which wage rates typically peak and is the best time to work and earn the most, even at the expense of present wellbeing, so as to have increased wealth and wellbeing later in life.” Transition countries like those of Eastern Europe saw a decline with age likely because transition to a new economic system had taken their pensions and healthcare away. Those living in chronic insecurity, like those in many sub-Saharan African nations, had chronically high levels of stress and worry, regardless of age. As the researchers point out, “money does not equate to happiness, but economic progress did promote wellbeing to an extent.
