High life satisfaction reported among small-scale societies with low incomes.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 121(7): e2311703121, 2024 Feb 13.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38315863
ABSTRACT
Global polls have shown that people in high-income countries generally report being more satisfied with their lives than people in low-income countries. The persistence of this correlation, and its similarity to correlations between income and life satisfaction within countries, could lead to the impression that high levels of life satisfaction can only be achieved in wealthy societies. However, global polls have typically overlooked small-scale, nonindustrialized societies, which can provide an alternative test of the consistency of this relationship. Here, we present results from a survey of 2,966 members of Indigenous Peoples and local communities among 19 globally distributed sites. We find that high average levels of life satisfaction, comparable to those of wealthy countries, are reported for numerous populations that have very low monetary incomes. Our results are consistent with the notion that human societies can support very satisfying lives for their members without necessarily requiring high degrees of monetary wealth.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Personal Satisfaction
/
Income
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
/
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A
/
Proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the United States of America
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Country of publication: