Age Wise

Why Older People Are So Much Happier

Once the slump of midlife is in the rearview, life opens up

Happiness is often depicted as a U-shaped or J-shaped curve, slumping in middle age and rising higher than ever later in life. Image by the author

Midlife can be miserable. You know it. I know it. Surveys show it. The pressures of raising a family, finding or keeping a job, paying the bills, dealing with emerging aches and pains — it all adds up.

But better days are ahead. Happiness, often measured as “life satisfaction,” typically charts out as a statistical smiley face, a U-shaped or J-shaped curve that’s high in young adulthood, pretty sucky for a couple of decades, then higher than ever in old age. A 2020 overview of the research across 132 countries puts the happiness low point at around age 47 or 48, on average, in both developing and advanced countries, and the phenomenon is not confined to the current generation of older people.

“The happiness curve is everywhere,” writes study leader David Blanchflower, PhD, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College.

The reasons for relative bliss in old age are many, anchored by lower levels of stress and responsibility and buoyed by free time and, if all goes well, the perspective and wisdom to put it to good use.

Happiness is U-shaped, sort of

Happiness is notoriously difficult to define and measure, and not all surveys depict a perfect U or J shape.

The consulting firm Gallup, which periodically surveys millions of Americans on life satisfaction, asks detailed questions on five different aspects of well-being: health, community, social interaction, finances, and career. People are also asked specific questions like “Did you experience a lot of happiness yesterday?” rather than just generic questions like “Are you happy?”

Gallup’s data sketches out a more squiggly curve, with happiness rising for people ages 30 to 44 compared to the 18–29 set, then falling to the lowest levels for those 45 to 64, then rising to the highest levels thereafter, explains Dan Witters, research director for the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index.

Overall, 86% of Americans said they were very or fairly happy, generally speaking, when Gallup last asked that specific question in 2019. That’s the lowest it’s been…