Life is not always easy, and sometimes we are less happy than at other times. But at what age do we feel most and least good?
Happy period
German researchers used data from no fewer than 443 different studies involving a total of more than 450,000 people. From this, the researchers were able to deduce what the happiest years in our lives are, and that turns out to be from 9 years old to 84 years old. That sounds very broad, and it is. Yet we are happiest around the age of nine, with that feeling reaching a low point around the age of sixteen. In the decades that follow, we become happier again little by little, but it is only around the age of seventy that there appears to be a peak again. Even after this year of life, we will again experience a dip in happiness, which will last us until the age of 85.
Childhood to retirement
So around the age of nine you are most satisfied with your life. According to psychologists, this is a consequence of a carefree childhood, and you will never be as satisfied as you were then. The fact that things deteriorate somewhat over the next seven years has to do with the happiness and carefreeness of childhood being replaced by adolescence. You change both physically and mentally, you are given responsibilities and you have to deal with social challenges: we can quickly become unsure of the unknown.
Once we get through this around the age of sixteen, we remain stable on the happiness curve for years. We learn to navigate our way through adult life and can sometimes be less happy, but we focus more quickly on big and important pillars, such as getting a diploma, buying a house, a promotion at work, living together or a start a family. When we focus on this, we gain hope in a good future, which plays a role in the mood and level of happiness of a (young) adult.
There is a slight peak around the age of forty, but we soon return to the same level. Only after we enter our fiftieth year do we become happier again, with the greatest peak around the age of seventy.
The fact that the feeling of happiness decreases again after the age of seventy has to do with the degree of loneliness we experience around that age. The health of people in this age category is also deteriorating, and that also plays a major role.
