Youths, older adults in India 'flourishing' more than those middle-aged: Global study
New Delhi: In India, youths and older adults are flourishing more those middle-aged, a study of over 2 lakh people across 22 countries has suggested.
The 'Global Flourishing Study', conducted by researchers from institutes, including the US Harvard University and University of Bremen, Germany, is envisaged to understand factors that govern the well-being of an individual and a community.
Flourishing was defined as a state in which all aspects of a person's life are good.
In Wave 1 of the study, questionnaire responses from 202,898 people from 22 countries, spanning six continents, were analysed. Findings are published in the journal Nature.
"Flourishing tends to increase with age in many countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Sweden and the United States , but not in all. In India, Egypt, Kenya and Japan, patterns are somewhat more U-shaped," the authors wrote.
The questionnaires surveyed people about aspects of well-being, such as happiness, health, meaning and relationships, along with demographic, social, political, religious factors and childhood experiences.
While men and women around the world reported similar patterns, greater differences were found in certain countries men in Brazil reported more flourishing compared to women, and women in Japan more than
Further, those married were found to report a higher flourishing, compared to those single, in most countries.
However, in India and Tanzania, married people reported lower flourishing than those single.
The study also found that people employed reported higher flourishing than those not. Self-employment, retirement and being a student related with more satisfaction than being employed in countries, including India, Japan, Israel and Poland.
The authors also found that young people around the world "are not doing as well as they used to".
Despite country-wise differences in patterns of satisfaction with age, "the overall global pattern is troubling", they said.
They added that more data collected over time will help resolve if these patterns are an 'age effect' or a 'cohort effect'.
In India, housing, government approvals, political voice and city satisfaction are the country's strengths, whereas education, taking little interest in life, along with financial anxieties are areas that need attention, the analysis found.
The Global Flourishing Study is expected to help understand 'flourishing' in general, especially in non-Western contexts. It is also expected to uncover which patterns are culturally specific and which more universal.
The study is aimed at supporting and expanding upon findings from similar studies such as the World Happiness Report.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
