Findings from the Global Flourishing Study: Sharing knowledge for a thriving world

Author: Stavroula Kousta

Chief Editor, Nature Human Behaviour

Springer Nature is proud to be the publishing partner for the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), a comprehensive survey of human well-being across 22 diverse nations. The first wave of results – hosted in a dedicated cross-journal collection - highlights the importance of tracking a rich set of flourishing indicators for both science and policy.

Sharing knowledge is at the heart of everything we do at Springer Nature as we pursue our mission of finding solutions to global issues. We are delighted to be the publishing partner for the Global Flourishing Study (GFS) a longitudinal survey collecting nationally representative, multidimensional well-being data from more than 200,000 people in 22 geographically and culturally diverse countries.  To share and amplify findings from the first wave of the survey, more than 20 of our journals across the Nature portfolio, BMC, and Springer imprints have collaborated to launch a special collection of more than 35 articles. 

“The Global Flourishing Study expands our knowledge of the distribution and determinants of wellbeing, effectively creating an epidemiology of flourishing and thus providing foundational knowledge for the promotion of flourishing.”
Tyler J. VanderWeele, Director of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science  

Well-being, according to the researchers, is multidimensional (a person is flourishing when all aspects of their life are good) and their comprehensive inventory of 109 items aims to capture this richness. The survey includes questions on happiness and life satisfaction along with demographic, social, economic, political, religious, childhood, community, health, and character-based questions. Findings from this study advance our scientific understanding of flourishing, but also have the potential to help national governments and international leaders understand what populations need to thrive‒and ultimately to help put policies in place that support not only survival, but also the possibility of a good life. 

Food for thought

So far, the findings have produced interesting insights:

• Cultural Differences: While people in wealthier countries report higher financial security, people in many middle-income countries rate higher on prosocial behaviours, meaning and close relationships. This raises important questions as to how we can promote economic development without compromising meaning, relationships and pro-sociality.  
• Sociodemographic Influences: Education, marital status, and gender have varying impacts on flourishing across different countries. For instance, in Brazil, men flourish more, whereas women in Japan report higher flourishing. Across countries, however, young people’s responses suggest that they may be worse off than previous generations. This tells us how important it is to focus more on the well-being of youth.
• Impact of Childhood Experiences: Early-life adversity, including poverty and abuse, tends to predict lower flourishing in adulthood, although Germany showed an interesting exception. 

Springer Nature is at the heart of a vast knowledge network, in which researchers, clinicians, editors, and educators work to find, curate, and share insights and discoveries. This allows us to amplify the GFS’ findings‒and help them come to the attention of people who can make a difference in the world. 

Springer Nature is proud to be the publishing partner for the Global Flourishing Study, and the findings are being published in a special cross-journal Collection.

This cross-journal Collection of papers reporting results from the first wave of the GFS will be continually updated as more findings are released. By making these resources accessible to diverse audiences from diverse disciplines, we hope to showcase the value of tracking a rich set of flourishing indicators for both science and policy. 

Find out more about the Global Flourishing Study, and read the first wave of papers published in the multi-journal Collection ‘Global Flourishing Study – Wave’