What are the best years of our lives? Is it childhood when our only concern is our schoolwork; Are we in our early 20s, where we spend the weekends having fun; are we in our 30s and 40s, where we have a more developed lifestyle and our own money; or even retirement, when we start to focus on the things that really make us happy?
A large new study sought to find the answer to this question, and according to a sample of participants who look back on their lives over 50, the answer is 30-34 years old. The study was published in the Springer Social Indicators Survey.
Of course, this is purely a statistical curve and the 30-34 range is just the peak. Apart from the differences between the age of the participant and the events they have experienced, of course, which country they are from, affects the result to a great extent. France, for example, maintains a similar level of happiness from mid-20s to 80s.
Data were drawn from a retrospective module called SHARELIFE, which included more than 17,000 people from 13 different countries. Participants did a historical review of their past life and were asked, among other questions, about the happiest phase of their lives.
However, when we factor in all countries and gender, the results show a clear peak at 30-34, suggesting that these years are the happiest years of most people’s lives. While some participants may maintain a similar period of happiness for decades from this point forward, this study shows that our perception of happiness develops during the first years of life. Changes in personal and family life result in a sharp upward trend in our 20s, improving our well-being until it peaks (in some cases, plateaus) in later years.
The authors note that these results are greatly influenced by the ability of older people to remember past periods of their lives. It is not possible to say with certainty whether the participants remember those periods accurately or whether they imagined what that period of their lives would be like with today’s living conditions.
Interestingly, researchers believe these results go beyond improving our “enjoy while you drive” mentality. These results can affect policy. Older people are more likely to vote for policies that directly affect their life stage, where retirement and healthcare are high on their agenda, and less likely to vote for policies aimed at younger people. This may be due to a decrease in perceived happiness as we age.
Regardless, the survey’s main conclusion is that happiness peaks in the middle stages of life. . .
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