Who Is Happier: Young or Old? Women or Men?

No single life cycle sequence of happiness prevails everywhere in the world, but in a number of developed countries, a wavelike pattern is fairly common as people progress through adulthood. Happiness starts off fairly high in the teenage years but declines thereafter because of the tensions associated with the school-to-work transition and then increases mildly to the late 30s as partnerships are formed and families started. As family and financial strains increase, it turns downward, bottoming out around age 60. The transition to retirement leads to a marked increase in happiness, but beyond the mid-70s, happiness declines once again as worsening health and loss of one’s partner take over. Most of the waves are mild, and some countries miss one or more entirely. Both men and women follow the wavelike pattern, but for men, the happiness trend is upward, while for women it is downward. Women are happier than men in early adulthood, because they marry at a younger age and are more likely to have a partner. But because of men’s shorter life expectancy, older women are less likely than men to have a partner and are consequently less happy.