CV NEWS FEED // Less than half of Americans say that they are “very satisfied” with their personal lives, according to a new Gallup survey.
The global analytics and advisory firm’s article about the survey results said that in 2024, only 47% of Americans said that they “very satisfied” with their personal lives, down from 50% in 2023 and 65% in 2020. The record low was in 2011, when only 46% of Americans stated that they were happy with their lives. Gallup began this annual survey in 1979.
In this year’s survey, 31% said that they are “somewhat satisfied” with their life, 11% are “somewhat dissatisfied” and 9% are “very dissatisfied.”
“The combined 78% of U.S. adults who are now satisfied (very or somewhat) with their lives is well below the trend average of 84% since 1979 and is also the lowest since 2011,” the article said.
Since the poll began, the highest recorded portion of people who said they were satisfied was 90%, and that occurred in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the report said. Low points in personal satisfaction tended to coincide with times of “economic uncertainty.”
“The 46% reading in 2011 came when the country was still recovering from the 2007-2009 recession, and the other sub-50% reading (47%) was in December 2008 during the global economic crisis,” the article said.
Gallup also found that the majority of people with an annual income of $100,000 or more, married couples, religious individuals, college graduates, Democrats, and those older than 55 years say that they are “very satisfied.”
