Global Flourishing Study

[Valerie Brachya]

Surprising results in this recently published survey by a research team at Harvard which followed  200,000 respondents in 22 countries over the last 5 years.

Flourishing was defined as the relative attainment of a state in which all aspects of a person's life were good, including the contexts in which a person lives. The domains relate to health, happiness, meaning, character, relationships and financial security. They did not use objective comparable indicators but based the results on responses to questions of how people felt or rated themselves.

The top 5 flourishing countries were Indonesia, Israel, Philippines, Mexico and Poland. The US came out in the middle and the bottom 3 were Japan, Turkey and the UK.

The results were presented in an open access article in Nature Mental Health

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00423-5#Tab6

Is anyone familiar with this study and the significance of its findings?

Valerie

--

Valerie Brachya

Research Associate

Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research

Lecturer, Tel Aviv University, Porter School for the Environment and Earth Sciences

Co-author 'Sustainable Lifestyles after Covid 19'

[JOHN DE GRAAF,* JOHN DE GRAAF]

As one who spend several years working the the issue of happiness, including serving as an advisor to Bhutan's happiness report in 2013, I still believe the most reliable global study of wellbeing is the UN's World Happiness Report--vast amounts of data since 2011, remarkable consistency and based more on longterm wellbeing than immediate affect.  It would be good if we could agree on the UN study so we could consistently compare data over time.

 

best,

John

John de Graaf

www.johndegraaf.com

--
- Join the mailing list: scorai+s...@googlegroups.com
- SCORAI website: https://scorai.net
- Join SCORAI: https://scorai.net/join
- Submit an item to the next newsletter: newsl...@scorai.net
- Submit a new blog post: hbr...@clarku.edu
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SCORAI" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to scorai+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/scorai/CA%2BRBbBHVZwy_jfZsfE3B9Zvg3VwcjPoGg87FSJvwvLWW2GkbRA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Valerie Brachya]

Hi John

I certainly agree with you about the importance of the happiness index but may I suggest we remain open to considering other indicators which may be pointing to something else?

Global country comparisons of mental wellbeing appear to vary widely from the happiness index values. Take a look at the following source

https://mentalstateoftheworld.report/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Mental-State-of-the-World-2022.pdf

The leading countries with highest scores are not what you would call high socio economic or HDI countries and the UK is at the bottom of the list. So what has gone wrong??

May I suggest that countries with higher flourishing and mental wellbeing have retained a strong sense of affiliation to family, community, religion and tradition. So as we encourage and promote higher HDI, higher material welfare and better living conditions, we should also take steps not to lose the characteristics of more traditional and less wealthy and educated societies which are important to mental quality of life, societal connectivity and relationships with other people and with the surroundings (including their affiliation to some form of religious or spiritual values). Ian McGilchrist would relate it to the right and left sides of the brain.

My recent consumption conversation with Manu Mathai of India picked up the theme that as we move forward, we should be careful not to lose the beneficial characteristics of more traditional society, as it is difficult to get them back again once they are lost.

https://scorai.net/consumption-conversations/

regards

Valerie

[Robert Rattle]

This is an interesting study for certain Valerie. 

Social equity is a primary factor of mental and psychological wellbeing. Increased inequity (structural inequality) across a society is associated with greater mental illness and psychological disorders, and poorer health outcomes. Capitalism and other forms of structural inequality, especially neoliberalism and austerity, have been strongly associated with mental illness and addictions. The inherent alienation of capitalist societies in Marxist theory has been shown to be a primary mechanism of inequality and poorer health and wellbeing outcomes. Mental illness and addictions are strongly interconnected with structural inequality across societies, including the epigenetic effects of trauma and their associated biological, behavioural and coping practices, and physiological changes. And the impact from ACEs and other childhood traumas has long been associated with poorer adult health and lower wellbeing outcomes as well as addictions, mental illnesses and psychological disorders.

This study appears to support and strengthen this evidence base and for measuring happiness and wellbeing.

--
-

[JOHN DE GRAAF,* JOHN DE GRAAF]

I agree with that Valerie. 

John de Graaf

www.johndegraaf.com

[Halina Brown]

I have to admit to being very confused by these different studies. Each using different definitions and focusing on different variables. The work of Kate Pickett and her collaborators have very convincingly showed that wealth and income inequality have a strong negative impact on an individual’s mental and physical health. But none of the other groups of studies -- happiness, wellbeing, and flourishing -- account for it. So how do I put it all together in my mind?

 

I also find the separation of individual well-being and their environment well-being artificial (by the authors of the Flourishing study). I do not see how a person can have a strong sense of wellbeing and happiness while living in a community that is not flourishing. Some people might, but most people’s sense of personal wellbeing will be negatively affected, especially that being a part of a community is such a strong factor in happiness and wellbeing.

 

Halina

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/scorai/CA%2BRBbBF%2BwsXXK%3DRdYjvCt5dh2hGNx0zA-QsvtBw28_EOe7_8DQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Robert Rattle]

Halina,

The other studies aren't looking at social gradient, but it's in there. Try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndh58GGCTQo

And it's not only individual health impacts: inequality/inequity harms everyone, regardless where someone resides on the wealth ladder. And finally, no, you can't separate individual wellbeing from the environment. As the late Monique Begin, former Minister of Health in Canada noted: "what good does it do to treat someone for their illness only to send them back to the same environment that caused that illness."

[Robert Rattle]

This recent article may be of interest on this thread:

https://mh.bmj.com/content/early/2025/03/13/medhum-2024-013159#

Karodia, H., MacGregor, W., & Raphael, D. (2025). Evoking Brecht’s A Worker’s Speech to a Doctor: developing clinical skills, deepening understanding and promoting action on living and working conditions, or mobilisation for system reform or transformation?  Medical Humanities.

Abstract

Bertolt Brecht’s 1938 poem ‘A Worker’s Speech to a Doctor’ has been used by health educators to direct attention to the health-threatening effects of adverse living and working conditions. However, to date there has not been a systematic analysis of these evocations and their goals (eg, develop clinical skills through promotion of empathy, encourage action to improve living and working conditions, and/or calls for broad societal mobilisation for systemic reform or even replacement). Of particular concern and relevance is the context in which this poem is mentioned, how it was applied, and whether it is presented in fragments or its entirety, thereby leaving intact Brecht’s critique of the capitalist economic system and its role in creating illness as well as the Doctor’s complicity in this same system. This investigation revealed that while most of the 56 instances found in books, book chapters, journal articles, presentations, and blogs did draw attention to how living and working conditions shape health and in many cases their public policy antecedents, most did not include the entire poem, leaving out Brecht’s critique and blunting his message. We suggest ‘A Worker’s Speech’ and other Brecht’s poems as a rich source for reflection, discussion, and action to promote health by health and social services workers, researchers, community activists, and the public.

On Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 12:03:21 p.m. AEST, Halina Brown <hbr...@clarku.edu> wrote: