Nearly As Many Americans Struggling as Thriving

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Having surveyed more than 100,000 Americans since the beginning of 2008, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals that 49% of Americans are "thriving," 47% are "struggling," and nearly 4% are "suffering."

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index builds upon Gallup's long tradition of representing the "voice of the people," and ultimately, what it is that people believe constitutes a good life. With measures that reflect Americans' evaluations of their day-to-day lives as well as their daily emotional experiences, Gallup is now able to provide an unprecedented view of public well-being in the United States.

Evaluative Well-Being

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index asks Americans to evaluate their lives by imagining a "ladder" with steps numbered from 0 to 10, where "0" represents the worst possible life and "10" represents the best possible life, this is known as the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Nationally, 49% of Americans say that they presently stand on step 7 or higher of the ladder. When asked where they will stand about five years from now, Americans report that they expect to stand on step 8 or higher. Gallup considers this group of Americans to be "thriving." Thriving Americans' have their basic needs (such as food and shelter) met, and they have higher incomes, are less burdened by disease, report fewer sick days, and have better work environments. While nearly half of Americans fall into this category, the percentage of citizens in the thriving group is down from 60% in 2006.

On the low end of the spectrum, 4% of U.S. residents say they presently stand on steps 0 to 4 of the ladder. When asked where they will stand five years from now, Americans in this group report that they expect to stand on steps 0 to 4 of the ladder, as well. Gallup considers this group of Americans to be "suffering." Suffering Americans report that they have less access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and healthcare. They are also more likely to be burdened by disease, report more sick days, and are more likely to be divorced or widowed.

Americans that Gallup does not classify as thriving or suffering are considered to be "struggling." The percentage of U.S. residents who are struggling has increased to 47% from 37% in 2006.

As a point of comparison to more than 130 countries around the world, the percentage of citizens thriving ranges from 2% in Cambodia to 83% in Denmark. While the percentage of citizens suffering ranges from less than 1% in Denmark to 47% in Zimbabwe.

Experienced Well-Being

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index also asks respondents about their emotions and experiences over the past 24 hours, and finds that Americans' reported experiences were much more positive than negative.

Day-to-Day Well-Being

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index also allows for unrivaled insight into the everyday emotional experience of Americans over time. By comparing the percentage of Americans reporting happiness and enjoyment without a lot of stress and worry and the number reporting stress or worry without a lot of happiness and enjoyment, the Well-Being Index provides for any given day a ratio of the number of people who had positive days to the number of people who had negative days.

Among the findings:

• 49% of Americans report a lot of enjoyment and happiness but not worry or stress on a typical day of this year.
• 10% of Americans report a lot of worry or stress but not enjoyment and happiness on a typical day this year.
• 4.9 Americans report positive days for every person who reports a negative day on a typical day this year.
• The ratio of people reporting positive days to those reporting negative days averages 7.2 on weekends and 4.1 on weekdays.
• For the 10 most positive days of 2008 so far, the ratio of people reporting positive days to those reporting negative days was 8.9.
• For the 10 most stressful or worrisome days of 2008 so far, the ratio of people reporting positive days to those reporting negative days was 3.4.
• Of the 10 days when Americans reported the most happiness and enjoyment, 9 were either a Saturday or a Sunday and one was a Tuesday (New Year's Day).
• Americans' reported level of happiness and enjoyment peaked on Easter Sunday, March 23, with New Year's Day coming in a close second. Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3, was also among the top 10 days that Americans reported the highest levels of happiness and enjoyment.
• Reported levels of worry and stress peaked on Feb. 27 and April 2. Among the top 10 days with highest levels of reported negative experiences, many were days that coincided with bad news from the financial markets. For instance, on Jan. 28, when the Commerce Department reported a drop in new home sales, 13% of respondents reported a lot of stress or worry without enjoyment or happiness during their day. About the same percentage of respondents reported a lot of stress or worry in March following the collapse of Bear Stearns and the subsequent intervention by the Fed. On April 2, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made comments about a possible U.S. recession, 14% of Americans surveyed reported a lot of stress or worry.

About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index tracks the well-being of U.S. residents every day, with the goal of providing the world's most up-to-date measure of individual and collective health and well-being. For this survey, Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008. The large scale of the study allows for comparisons of well-being across days, regions, states, ZIP Codes, and climate zones over time -- as well as comparisons with Gallup surveys of well-being in more than 140 countries worldwide. Perhaps most importantly, these measures provide a valuable tool to all policy-makers, business leaders, and healthcare providers engaged in improving the health and well-being of their constituencies.