Well-being goes far beyond just feeling happy—and a massive new study published in Nature Mental Health shows that some nations are thriving more holistically, via flourishing, than others.
Researchers from Baylor and Harvard universities surveyed over 207,000 people across 22 countries and Hong Kong to understand how people are doing in six key areas: happiness, health, meaning, character, relationships, and financial stability. The findings offer a broader, deeper look at what it means to flourish.
Indonesia came out on top, followed by Mexico and the Philippines. Surprisingly, countries often ranked high in happiness—like Sweden and the United States—landed in the middle when it came to overall flourishing.
“The uniqueness of the Global Flourishing Study is the size: We are following 207,000 participants around the world in over 40 different languages on the six inhabited continents,” said study leader Dr. Byron Johnson. “This gives a voice to approximately 64% of the world’s population.”
One of the most striking trends found in the study is that younger people are struggling more than older adults.
“Perhaps one of the more troubling features of this data is that we find that when we aggregate across the 22 countries, flourishing tends to increase with age, so that the youngest individuals are reporting the lowest levels of flourishing,” said author, Tyler VanderWeele.
Many young adults said they lack a strong sense of purpose, especially in wealthier nations. However, in countries like Tanzania and Poland, younger people scored better.
Experts believe cultural and social pressures may be playing a role. In high-income countries, young people may face fierce competition for jobs, which can increase stress and dissatisfaction.
Interestingly, while wealthier nations scored higher in financial security, they often scored lower in meaning, purpose, and relationships.
This brings in the question with regard to how can countries carry out economic development without compromising meaning, purpose, and relationships.
Some of the countries that scored highest in flourishing—like Indonesia and Nigeria—didn’t even appear in the top 20 of the World Happiness Report, suggesting that happiness and full-spectrum well-being don’t always align.
To measure flourishing, researchers asked 12 core questions related to:
Life satisfaction and happiness
Physical and mental health
Life purpose
Character strengths like self-discipline and altruism
Financial stress and basic security
VanderWeele suggests one’s approach to reflecting on one’s own flourishing is simply to go through their 12 core flourishing questions:
- Overall, how satisfied are you with life as a whole these days?
- In general, how happy or unhappy do you usually feel?
- In general, how would you rate your physical health?
- How would you rate your overall mental health?
- Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?
- I understand my purpose in life.
- I always act to promote good in all circumstances, even in difficult and challenging situations.
- I am always able to give up some happiness now for greater happiness later.
- I am content with my friendships and relationships.
- My relationships are as satisfying as I would want them to be.
- How often do you worry about being able to meet normal monthly expenses?
- How often do you worry about safety, food, or housing?
Although people can work on individual aspects of flourishing, broader issues like war, poverty, or inequality can’t be solved alone, requiring worldwide cooperation.
Well-being isn’t just measured by happiness, where so many people are misguided on. The study offers people a well-rounded and more comprehensives assessment of whether or not they are flourishing in life and not just “happy”.
TJ VanderWeele et al. The Global Flourishing Study: Study Profile and Initial Results on Flourishing. Nature Mental Health (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00423-5https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00423-5
