TY - JOUR
T1 - High life satisfaction reported among small-scale societies with low incomes
AU - Galbraith, Eric D.
AU - Barrington-Leigh, Christopher
AU - Miñarro, Sara
AU - Álvarez-Fernández, Santiago
AU - Attoh, Emmanuel M.N.A.N.
AU - Benyei, Petra
AU - Calvet-Mir, Laura
AU - Carmona, Rosario
AU - Chakauya, Rumbidzayi
AU - Chen, Zhuo
AU - Chengula, Fasco
AU - Fernández-Llamazares, Álvaro
AU - García-Del-Amo, David
AU - Glauser, Marcos
AU - Huanca, Tomas
AU - Izquierdo, Andrea E.
AU - Junqueira, André B.
AU - Lanker, Marisa
AU - Li, Xiaoyue
AU - Mariel, Juliette
AU - Miara, Mohamed D.
AU - Porcher, Vincent
AU - Porcuna-Ferrer, Anna
AU - Schlingmann, Anna
AU - Seidler, Reinmar
AU - Shrestha, Uttam Babu
AU - Singh, Priyatma
AU - Torrents-Ticó, Miquel
AU - Ulambayar, Tungalag
AU - Wu, Rihan
AU - Reyes-García, Victoria
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.
PY - 2024/2/5
Y1 - 2024/2/5
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - happiness
KW - Indigenous Peoples
KW - monetary income
KW - subjective well-being
KW - wealth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184460794&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/07b2526c-0393-3871-84a1-fb93ea2c3122/
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2311703121
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2311703121
M3 - Article
C2 - 38315863
AN - SCOPUS:85184460794
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 121
SP - e2311703121
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 7
M1 - e2311703121
ER -