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 Witter's, 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 during the 71 years of the survey, with the dip attributed to rising levels of stress, worry, and anger. (Broader measures of life satisfaction, based on different sets of questions, have bounced around a lot during the pandemic, and it remains to be seen where things shake out.)
More time, less stress
Not all sorts of well-being improve with age, of course. Odds increase for disease, chronic pain, and a slew of other health problems. But emotional aspects of life, such as stress and worry, tend to lessen.
“That stuff really drops when you get 65-plus, and things like happiness and enjoyment on any given day get better,” Witter's says in a phone interview.
“The midlife trough that some people see is often a reflection of a more stressful daily life for middle-aged people,” says Susan Charles, PhD, a professor of psychological science at the University of California, Irvine. “They have less free time, less me time. Even midlife couples are not as happy as younger couples or older adults. I think that the time they spend with each other (or lack thereof) has something to do with this.”
The good news? “Life will not always be that busy,” says Charles, who researches the emotional processes in people across adult life.
Gallup finds several other factors improving with age and driving late-life well-being, particularly for people who’ve been financially fortunate:
- Eating healthy foods
- Feeling financially secure and having health insurance
- Living in a place of one’s choosing, one that feels right and safe
- Volunteering in ways that impact the community
- Having an “accountability partner” who encourages you to be healthy
Happiness is also higher when we achieve important goals, something that jumps from just 33% of people ages 45–64 to 45% for the 65-plus group, Witters notes. No surprise, later-life goals change, focusing more on health and relationships rather than career success, he says, and seniors are more likely to have the time, willingness, and ability to achieve the goals they set.
Money matters
You’ve heard that money can’t buy happiness. A comforting thought, but it’s not really true.
People report higher levels of general life satisfaction with higher income levels with no proven upper limit to the boost from ever-increasing wealth, Witters explains. But when asked about daily experiences — such as “Did you experience a lot of happiness yesterday?” — people who make more money report more happiness but only up to about $85,000 of annual income. Money above that level (where it counts) doesn’t bring more happiness.
Here’s where a little wisdom can be particularly useful and applied at any age. People who make a lot of money are apt to find financial misery if they accumulate too much debt — a new car, a bigger house, and so on — Gallup research finds. Yet people with modest incomes can be financially happy if they spend within their means. Seniors figure this out and tend to stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, perhaps downsizing their homes to reduce or eliminate debt, Witters says.
Time Can Make You Happier Than Money
It’s true for all ages and stages — even for new college graduates, according to a new study
In the end
Amid all the stress of middle age comes another common drag on happiness: Heart attacks and other diseases start to take the lives of a few loved ones and old friends. “Midlife is a time when people start realizing that time left in life is growing shorter,” Charles tells me. “This can be scary.” But, she notes, multiple studies find this emerging fear of death actually decreases in old age.
Another important thing that declines later in life: negative emotions, such as stress, anxiety, anger, and frustration, according to a 2001 study led by Charles.
Whether you can learn anything from happy older people is a question only you can answer.
Margaret Gatz, PhD, a professor of psychology, gerontology, and preventive medicine at the University of Southern California and a co-author with Charles on the 2001 study, sums up via email some old-age wisdom in two points:
“One, people acquire life experiences and a sense of perspective so that they are better able to navigate ups and downs,” she says. “Two, people become increasingly aware of whatever time may be left and focus on their most important priorities.”
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