All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. We also conducted nationally representative surveys of 16,254 adults from March 12 to May 26, 2021, in 16 advanced economies. What about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why?” Please take a moment to reflect on your life and what makes it feel worthwhile – then answer the question below as thoughtfully as you can.

In both surveys, respondents were asked to answer the following open-ended question: “We’re interested in exploring what it means to live a satisfying life. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. The surveys were weighted to be representative of the U.S. This way nearly all adults have a chance of selection. Everyone who took part in both surveys is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. surveys on the meaning of life.įor this analysis, we conducted nationally representative surveys of 4,867 U.S. Details about the over-time analysis can be found in the Methodology for comparing 20 U.S. This Pew Research Center analysis examines Americans’ responses to an open-ended question about what gives them meaning in life and explores how responses in the United States have changed over time as well as how they differ from those elsewhere in the world. compare with those in 16 other advanced economies surveyed by the Center in 2021.

The analysis also examines how attitudes in the U.S. adults to answer the following question in their own words: “What about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why?”īased on these surveys, here are six facts about where Americans find meaning in life and how those responses have shifted over the past four years. In both years, the Center asked a representative sample of U.S. Many things have changed in the United States in the past four years, from a new administration in Washington to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted work, financial security, family structures and even the ability to move around freely – to say nothing of its impact on public health.Īlongside these shifts, Americans have evolved in where they find meaning in their lives, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of surveys conducted in September 2017 and February 2021.

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