The secret to happiness: Study across 76 countries pinpoints five key traits linked to

It’s a conundrum that millions of people would like to unravel: what is the secret to happiness?

Now, scientists believe they may finally know the answer. 

Experts from the University of Oxford surveyed 80,000 people in 76 countries about their happiness and life satisfaction. 

And the results revealed five key traits among happy people.

Across all countries, people who were more patient, risk taking, reciprocal, altruistic, and trusting reported higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. 

This suggests that wellbeing is down to more than material comforts alone, according to the researchers. 

‘A potential lesson for stakeholders such as businesses and governments could be to promote initiatives that build stronger preferences in order to increase wellbeing,’ they explained.

‘Initiatives that make people more patient, risk taking, reciprocal, altruistic and trusting could all bear the promise of also increasing wellbeing.’

Across all countries, people who were more patient, risk taking, reciprocal, altruistic, and trusting reported higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction

Around the world, governments and researchers are increasingly paying attention to the wellbeing of populations. 

However, what determines wellbeing has remained a mystery until now. 

Writing in their study, published in the International Journal of Happiness and Development, the team said: ‘Whereas a thriving strand of the literature has attempted to determine the concrete causes of wellbeing in the form of income, personal characteristics and so forth, little research so far has attempted to look at behavioural attitudes as drivers of wellbeing.’

To get to the bottom of it, the researchers carried out surveys on happiness and life satisfaction with 80,000 people across 76 countries. 

Their results revealed a correlation between life satisfaction and five key traits. 

Firstly, the team uncovered a link with patience and risk taking. 

‘Life satisfaction is significantly correlated with patience,’ they explained. 

‘Risk taking is also significantly correlated with life satisfaction with a similar coefficient as patience.’

The findings suggests that wellbeing is down to more than material comforts alone, according to the researchers (stock image)

Next, they found that people were more satisfied with their lives when they had high levels of both positive and negative reciprocity.  

The team said: ‘The results for positive and negative reciprocity imply that higher willingness to both reward good behaviour and punish unfair behaviour is associated with higher life satisfaction. 

‘In other words, being more willing to respond to actions from others, whether fair or unfair, correlates with higher life satisfaction.’

Finally, altruism and trust were ‘significantly correlated’ with life satisfaction. 

The experts added: ‘The coefficients are remarkably similar for the different regions of the world.’ 

The study comes shortly after a survey revealed that Brits reach their peak health and happiness at age 47.

That’s good news for 47–year–old celebrities, including Kourtney Kardashian, James Corden, and Zoe Saldana – not to mention NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who recently flew around the moon.

The survey, commissioned by TePe, found that Brits feel fitter, happier and more confident than ever in their late 40s. 

And according to Miranda Pascucci, Head of Clinical Education and Dental Therapist at TePe, this comes as a result of focusing on internal health over appearance. 

‘As people get older, many begin to realise that health isn’t just about what’s visible,’ she explained. 

‘It’s about how you feel and how well your body functions.’