The Global Flourishing Study (GFS), a multi-year collaborative research study carried out by the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, Gallup and the Center for Open Science, revealed its first-wave findings on human flourishing — i.e., “living in a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good.” These findings are the result of one of the most comprehensive studies of human wellbeing ever undertaken and paint a global picture of flourishing today.
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The GFS measures global human flourishing across six domains: happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability. The study seeks to understand and map flourishing as well as address a surge of interest in questions around flourishing — not only among social scientists but increasingly among policymakers and business leaders.
“The Global Flourishing Study expands our knowledge of the distribution and determinants of wellbeing, effectively creating an epidemiology of flourishing and, thus, providing foundational knowledge for the promotion of flourishing,” said Tyler J. VanderWeele, principal investigator on the GFS study and the director of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. “We believe understanding human flourishing can fundamentally change the way we live and how we interact.”
Key Insights:
● Global Differences in Flourishing: The study reveals that many middle-income developing countries fare better on measures of meaning, purpose and relationships than the richer developed world. Countries like Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines fared particularly well, while nearby countries like Japan, Türkiye and the United Kingdom did not.
Younger Generations Lagging: Younger people worldwide appear to not be doing as well as the generations that came before them. In many countries, the youngest age group (18-24-year-olds) report the lowest levels of flourishing. Additionally, flourishing tends to increase with age across countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
● Spirituality Is a Common Contributor: Across almost all countries, religious service attendance appears to be an important element related to flourishing, with especially strong associations even in the most secular societies.
The release of these findings culminates more than four years of collaboration and exploration among more than 40 leading experts surveying over 200,000 research participants across 20+ geographically and culturally diverse populations from across the globe. These experts span the disciplines of sociology, psychology, epidemiology, economics, education, statistics, history, philosophy and theology.
This $43.4 million initiative is being supported by a consortium of funders including the John Templeton Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, the Paul Foster Family Foundation, the Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation, Well Being Trust, and the David & Carol Myers Foundation.
The data are freely available to the public through the Center for Open Science, and the principal investigators invite open dialogue around flourishing and seek out active contributions from the community and from research satellite locations around the globe. In addition, beyond the intensive gathering of this first-wave data, GFS will follow the same people as they go about their lives over the course of five years.
“By inviting dialogue and contributions, this initiative becomes a working lab focused on flourishing,” said Byron R. Johnson, principal investigator and director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. “With so much tension and uncertainty across the globe, flourishing is something we can all come together on. By focusing on this collectively, we can work towards ways to improve economic development, reduce conflicts and help communities and countries rediscover their true meaning and purpose.”
For more information on GFS and its initial finding, please visit www.globalflourishingstudy.com.
About the Global Flourishing Study
The Global Flourishing Study is a longitudinal panel study of over 200,000 participants in 23 countries and territories, spanning all six populated continents, with nationally representative sampling and intended annual longitudinal panel data collection for five years.
The survey — which includes a rich set of questions on wellbeing along with demographic, social, economic, political, religious, personality, childhood, community, health and character-based questions — panels individuals from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong (S.A.R. of China), India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Türkiye, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries and territories were selected in consultation with Gallup to maximize coverage of the world’s population, ensure geographic, cultural and religious diversity, and in consideration of existing data collection infrastructure and feasibility.
About Gallup
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.
Source – Gallup
