The State of Wellbeing: Insights on Emotional and Life Satisfaction
Let’s explore the current state of wellbeing in the world and how emotional wellbeing relates to overall life satisfaction.
In a previous post, we explored Gallup's Net Thriving principles, which measure life satisfaction by asking individuals to rate their current and future lives on a ladder scale from 0 to 10, categorizing them as thriving, struggling, or suffering. Gallup identifies five key elements of wellbeing: physical, community, financial, social, and career well-being, with career wellbeing being the most foundational.
A fulfilling career positively impacts all other aspects of life, contributing to financial stability, work-life balance, and a sense of accomplishment. However, emotional wellbeing isn’t included among the five key elements. Why not? Let’s explore the current state of wellbeing in the world and how emotional wellbeing relates to overall life satisfaction.
Current State of Wellbeing
United States
Gallup has administered the Net Thriving assessment across the United States. Here’s how people have rated their current and expected future lives:
Current thriving is 50%, down from 58% in 2009
Current struggling is 46%, up from 40% in 2009
Current suffering is 4%, up from 2% in 2009
The greatest percentage of people are thriving
People in the U.S. rate their lives as worse off today compared to 2009
Regional
Here’s how people across different global regions rated their current and future lives:
Highest thriving was in Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and the Caribbean
Lowest thriving was in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Highest suffering was in Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia
The World
Gallup has administered the Net Thriving assessment across the world. Here’s how people have rated their current and expected future lives:
Current thriving is 34%, up from 24% in 2009
Current struggling is 58%, down from 64% in 2009
Current suffering is 8%, down from 12% in 2009
The greatest percentage of people are struggling
People rate their lives as better off today compared to 2009
Insights from the Data
Decline in U.S. Wellbeing
Although the greatest percentage of people are thriving, the U.S. has seen a decline in overall wellbeing, with fewer people thriving and more people struggling and suffering compared to 2009. This suggests increasing challenges in maintaining life satisfaction.
Regional Variations
There are significant regional differences in wellbeing. Regions like Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and the Caribbean report higher thriving rates, while Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia report the lowest. This highlights the impact of regional factors such as economic stability, social support, and political conditions on wellbeing.
Global Improvement
Although the greatest percentage of people are struggling, the global trend shows an improvement in overall wellbeing, with more people thriving and fewer people struggling and suffering compared to 2009. This indicates progress in global efforts to enhance life satisfaction and address wellbeing challenges.
Emotional Wellbeing
Negative Emotions
Now that we’ve looked at the current state of wellbeing in the US, regionally, and around the world, let’s look at emotional wellbeing. Why isn’t emotional wellbeing included in the five elements of wellbeing?
To answer that question, let’s look at the emotional experience of Americans. Gallup asked people if they experienced the negative emotions of stress, worry, anger, and sadness during “a lot of the day yesterday.”
Here’s what Gallup found:
51% of Americans (more than half) felt stress during a lot of the day yesterday
42% of Americans felt worried during a lot of the day yesterday
All of the emotions peaked in 2020 during COVID
As time goes on, Americans are getting more stressed, worried, angry, and sad
Correlation to Life Satisfaction
When you compare the data on life satisfaction and negative emotions in the US, there appears to be a correlation between Gallup's Net Thriving scores and the prevalence of negative emotions in the United States. According to Gallup's most recent data, only 50% of U.S. employees report thriving, while 45% are struggling and 4% are suffering. An increase in negative emotions such as stress, worry, and anger accompanies this decline in thriving rates.
Emotional wellbeing isn’t included as a separate element because it is an integral part of all of the elements. For instance, emotional wellbeing is closely tied to social wellbeing through meaningful relationships and support systems, and to career wellbeing through job satisfaction and stress management. By addressing these five elements, Gallup aims to provide a comprehensive framework that inherently includes aspects of emotional wellbeing.
The idea is that you’ll improve your emotional wellbeing as you improve your overall life satisfaction, which is impacted by the condition of the five elements of wellbeing. Conversely, your emotional wellbeing will decline if your life satisfaction declines.
Gallup, Gallup Net Thriving, and Wellbeing Elements are copyright of Gallup.
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