Why are the wealthy so unhappy?

Initial data from a $43.4 million research initiative show that individuals living in developing countries score higher in having purpose and meaning.

The Global Flourishing Study is surveying 200,000 participants from 22 countries over five years, looking at which ones score highest for human flourishing. The study released its first set of data in April.

“We define flourishing as someone who’s doing well in all aspects of life in all the domains,” said Byron R. Johnson, director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. “That’s physical health, mental health, meaning and purpose, close relationships, character, virtues and financial security—those are all important.”

Johnson co-directs the initiative with Tyler VanderWeele, director of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. The study is partnered with Gallup and the Center for Open Science.

On a scale of zero to 10, Indonesia scored highest for flourishing with a score of 8.47, followed by Mexico and the Philippines.

Johnson said many people who live in poverty still have a sense of meaning and purpose. While there are people in the United States who have better economic resources, they may lack understanding of their purpose in life.

Enock Rop left his home in Kenya in 2021 to attend Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa. He didn’t think it “added up” to just attend college, get a job, have a family, retire, and die, he said.

God placed him in the world to do something, especially for his fellow human beings.

“There’s a puzzle that I have—I feel like I have to play a part in the puzzle to make it complete in God’s kingdom,” Rop said. “That’s kind of how I look at it.”

While Kenya scored high in purpose in the first-year data, it scored in the negatives in life satisfaction.

People in developing countries “get used” to hardship, Rop said, which might be why these countries scored higher in happiness. When he came to the United States, he noticed a different attitude.

“There’s a lot of, ‘I deserve this,’” he said, adding that people get stressed if they don’t receive what they expect.

Jeffrey Vrielink is a psychiatrist just outside of Grand Rapids, Mich. When he gets on his phone, checks his mailbox, or reads billboards, he said, they say the same thing: buy, buy, buy, buy. He believes people in developing countries are happier because of a “lack of covetousness.”

Outside of Malang, Indonesia, Zainullah farms and teaches English. Zainullah, who has one name, pointed to wealth, also. He said money could never satisfy a person.

People will always want more, he said, adding that happiness comes from contributing to society.

Individuals in developing countries often attach their sense of purpose to things outside of their personal interests, said Ryan Culkin, chief counseling officer at Thriveworks, a mental health online service provider that has some in-person locations.

“They’re not just doing work that helps pay the bills or helps their family,” Culkin said. “They’re doing work that helps their entire community. And that’s a sense of belonging that’s hard to replicate.”

T’Shana Everitt, a licensed marriage and family therapist outside Dallas, said she often doesn’t have to wonder what causes her clients’ mental health concerns.

“If they walk in my door with a phone in their hand, I know,” she said.

When social media and cellphones became more prevalent, Everitt said her work changed drastically. It became much harder. “I have seen the demise of families and individuals, a rise in depression and anxiety like nobody’s business,” she said.

The human brain was not equipped for these nonstop hits of high levels of dopamine, Everitt said, adding that it stimulates the brain, keeping it wired. A person gets a quick high that leaves in an hour, but they return to their phones again and again to get another dopamine hit.

Everitt said this search for pleasure often doesn’t deliver.

“As a believer, I also read Scripture and understand that the heaping of pleasures to your own lust is not satisfying,” Everitt said. “You come up empty, and so pursuing that—all of the time—it does lend itself to emptiness.”

Social media can also give a false sense of intimacy, she noted. Online interactions allow people to feel accepted without putting in the work for accountability or problem solving that in-person relationships require.

However, God calls people into relationships, she said. “He calls us to accountability all of the time. He calls us to a lifestyle of confession and forgiveness, which depicts his very character.”

The Global Flourishing Study has four more years to go before completion.

Flourishing doesn’t mean living long, but living well, Johnson said, which he believes is how God designed people.

“I think that’s how God created us,” he said. “We see that mapped out in Genesis 1 and 2, but we live in a Genesis 3 world—we’re never going to be perfectly flourishing. It’s a journey.”