Researchers from the Stockholm School of Economics, together with Lund University, Norway’s Oslomet and Harvard University, examined happiness among Swedes.
The study is based on survey responses from over 15,000 Swedes and shows clear age differences in happiness and well-being. The comparison is mainly between 18-24 year olds and those over 70 years old.
– It hardly matters what question we ask, whether it’s about loneliness, meaning and purpose, or happiness. Younger people feel worse than older people, Nora Hansson Bittár, a doctoral student at the Center for Wellbeing, Welfare and Happiness at the School of Economics, tells TT.
Young adults report less meaning in life and poorer financial security than older age groups. They experience twice as much loneliness and seven times more depression and anxiety than their elders.
– It is important to point out that young Swedes are no worse off than young people in other countries. But what really stands out is that older people in Sweden are among the happiest in the world.
The researchers have that too concluded that the established “U-curve” of happiness, in which middle age is often described as the nadir of life, does not apply in Sweden.
So we’re not having a midlife crisis.
– We don’t see any of it, says Hansson Bittár.
But what really makes older Swedes dance and smile – while the younger ones have a hard time?
Nora Hansson Bittár allows herself to speculate.
– The elderly grew up in a golden age in Sweden. Anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s can live a life that their parents only dreamed of. They grew up with economic growth in a strong welfare society. Additionally, they may have invested in housing and seen the assets grow, she says.
– It is not so obvious why young people are worse off. One explanation is that important life phases are more difficult to manage. The tight housing market, the pandemic and an anxious world make the transition to adulthood difficult and can lead to frustration.
About the same time as After the study is published, Statistics Norway (SCB) will provide new figures from a survey on living conditions in the first half of 2025. There, too, older Swedes answer that they are happier than younger people.
– Respondents had to answer whether they were happy in the last four weeks. A larger percentage of people over 65 feel predominantly happy, says statistician Anna Hagman.
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