What age are people happiest and saddest?

May 26, 2023

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At what age are we happiest and unhappiest?

When I originally wrote this story in 2023, I started by saying: “Hello, my name is Amy and I just turned 47, the most depressing age of life according to a 2020 study by David G. Blanchflower, a British-American labor economist and academic.”

If you’re thinking WTF?, I hear you, but the data was pretty solid: 500,000 people in 145 countries participated in the 2020 study that correlates mood with economic, social, and political well-being. People were apparently most depressed between 47 and 48 — both in developed and developing countries — with so-called misery peaking at 47.2.

Move over 47.

The 2020 data has been replaced by the World Happiness Report of 2024. The new unhappiest age is 50, and I’m not a fan. Just when I thought my unhappiest year was behind me, now that I’m 49, am I slated to experience another round of unhappiness at 50? No thank you.

Why are people so unhappy at 50?

One theory is that age 50 represents the transition from youth to maturity in modern life. As Saumyaa Vohra says in GQ India, “It is the age-old trope of the midlife crisis, but it isn’t a played-for-laugh TV gimmick; it is a very real reckoning of moving from one phase of life to another, one we deem less favourable than our wild and wonderful youth.”

In other words, life’s “halfway point” tends to make us question everything from our place in the world, what we’ve achieved, and what’s left of our time on the planet (or some other planet). We could chalk up the doom and gloom to the stresses of hardcore adulting. You know, heightened grown-up responsibilities, the pressures of our proverbial career peaks, navigating new health issues, relationship shifts, retirement planning, kids, aging relatives, and whatever other 39 things are on your Sandwich Generation plate.

I can also see how, for many women, the 47–50 mark is prime time for perimenopause (at least, it is for me), rife with hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, headaches, moodiness, dwindling energy, and other memorable moments.

I was aware of Blanchflower’s 2020 study for several years and waited until I turned 47 to write this story the first go-round. At age 44, I thought, “Nah, the 47 doldrums won’t happen to me” after stumbling on the research right around the time my husband turned 47. I have to say: He was in a bummer mood that year. Granted, he was 47 during the COVID lockdown, so who could blame the guy, but he was also kinda bummed about his place in life in general. But when I asked him how he felt at 50, he said confidently, “I feel good. I’ve accepted that I’m in my second-half. I like where I’m at and am grateful for my family and everything I have.”

Awww.

How did I feel at 47? OK overall, but I was angsty to make some changes — and change is good. All of this said, you know what? I’m glad I know when people tend to be unhappiest. In light of Heather Armstrong’s suicide at 47, it gave me plenty to ponder, reassess, and envision brighter times in my second-half. That, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to go back in time.

I’ve had a rough ride the last year and a half on the career front but have made critical mindset shifts recently that are helping me look forward to my 50th year.

Success and satisfaction are not one and the same. “Success often comes from dissatisfaction. Happiness comes from contentment.” — Naval Ravikant

What age are we happiest?

Let’s look at the brighter side. According to the new report, age 50 represents the lowest point of a “happiness U-curve.” Meaning, our happiness levels fall in the first decades of adulthood, and then hit bottom at 50 before rebounding upward.

Our happiest years are likely to come quite a bit after 50. As of 2025, the “happiest age” is generally around 70, or in people’s late 60s and early 70s, according to a U-shaped curve of happiness that dips in midlife before rising again in older age. While happiness declines in middle age, older adults tend to report higher life satisfaction and contentment, possibly due to increased self-awareness and a release from life’s early pressures.

But perhaps happiness is also relative to the individual. My mom, now in her 70s, declared 50 her favorite age of life so far. As Art Markman, PhD, reports in FastCompany, happiness declines from your teens into your twenties, and stays low until about 50, after which it starts to rise again and continues to rise through your 60s.

Age and generation both matter for happiness, according to the 2024 World Happiness Report. “As between generations, those born before 1965 (Boomers and their predecessors) have life evaluations about one-quarter of a point higher than those born after 1980 (Millennials and Gen Z). Within each generation, life evaluations rise with age for those in the older generations and fall with age for the younger ones, with little age effect for those in between.”

Back when the unhappiest age was considered 47.2, Blanchflower said there are three primary reasons people tend to see a rebound on the happiness front:

1. They learn to readjust expectations of themselves.

2. They learn to appreciate their success when they realize others haven’t achieved as much.

3. They learn that happy people may live longer in general.

Which countries have the happiest people?

According to the World Happiness Report, the top 10 joyful countries you usually hear about have remained much the same since before COVID. Finland is still top, with Denmark now very close, and all five Nordic countries in the top 10. But in the next 10, there is more change, with the transition countries of Eastern Europe rising in happiness (especially Czechia, Lithuania and Slovenia). Partly for this reason the United States and Germany have fallen to 23 and 24 in the rankings.

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