World's largest study of human flourishing opens its data to the public

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The Global Flourishing Study (GFS), the most comprehensive empirical investigation of human flourishing ever undertaken, has made its first two waves of data publicly available through the Center for Open Science at no cost and without preregistration. Researchers, journalists, policymakers and the public can now freely access the dataset on the Open Science Framework (OSF) website.

The release marks a significant milestone for a study that has already produced more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, including a special Nature Portfolio collection of 35 different studies using just the first wave of GFS data alone.

"We built this study because we believed the world needed a rigorous, shared language for what makes life go well," said Byron R. Johnson, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and co-director of the GFS. "Today we're putting the evidence in everyone's hands."

Co-directed by Johnson and Tyler VanderWeele, Ph.D., of Harvard University and fielded in partnership with Gallup and the Center for Open Science, the GFS tracks approximately 200,000 participants across 22 countries and one territory, measuring flourishing across six domains:

  1. Happiness and life satisfaction,
  2. Physical and mental health,
  3. Meaning and purpose,
  4. Character and virtue,
  5. Close social relationships, and
  6. Financial and material stability.

Because the same participants are surveyed across multiple waves, the study moves beyond correlation toward the kinds of causal questions that cross-sectional research cannot address.

What the data has already revealed

  • Young people are struggling. Global data reveal a striking reversal: Young adults now report lower well-being than older populations, signaling an urgent need for further understanding of youth flourishing.
  • The development paradox. The study exposes a critical tension at the heart of economic progress: There is a negative relationship between a nation's wealth and its citizens' reported sense of meaning and purpose.
  • Faith communities support flourishing. Across diverse cultures, religious participation is among the strongest predictors of well-being—suggesting that faith communities cultivate something essential to human thriving that merits serious attention from researchers and policymakers alike.

Accessing the data

Data from Waves 1 and 2, along with accompanying instructions and documentation from Gallup, are now available. The dataset is open for general use; access to a small number of sensitive variables continues to require Institutional Review Board approval. Researchers who preregister their study and analysis plans through the Global Flourishing Registry will also gain access to Wave 3, the study's most recent data collection.

"The question is no longer whether flourishing can be measured," VanderWeele said. "It's what we do with what we've found."

Journal information: Nature

Provided by Baylor University