In this study, the relationship between age and life satisfaction was examined over a period of 27 years (1982–2009) in four countries—Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Sweden—using nationally representative samples of adults between the ages of 15 and 100 from the European Value Survey, the World Values Survey, and the European Social Survey (total N = 39,420). Unlike in Finland and Sweden, the relationship between age and subjective well-being in Estonia and Latvia was best described as curvilinear, with younger and older people having higher levels of life satisfaction. The observed age differences in life satisfaction in Estonia and Latvia, however, seem to be due to an interaction of cohort and period differences.
Studies of subjective well-being (SWB) have gained greatly in popularity in recent years. From 1980 to 1985, there were 2152 publications on subjective well-being (including life satisfaction and happiness), whereas in the period of 2000–2005, there were 35,069 studies (Diener, 2009). Over 20 years, the number of publications on subjective well-being thus increased approximately 16-fold! Articles on subjective well-being are published in leading scientific journals such as Science (Kahneman et al., 2006 and Oswald and Wu, 2010), covered in popular media (e.g., a special issue of Time magazine on “The science of happiness”; January 2005), and discussed by eminent economists and policymakers in the context of issues related to the quality-of-life. Furthermore, in the last few decades, data about happiness and life satisfaction have become widely accessible, making it possible to compare countries around the world (Veenhoven, 1996).
Why is subjective well-being so important? Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener (2005) reviewed cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental data showing that happy individuals are more likely than their less happy peers to have fulfilling marriages and relationships, high incomes, superior work performance, high levels of community involvement, good health, and a long life. What is even more important is that Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) showed that it is possible for happiness to lead to success, not just the other way around. That explains why policymakers in many different countries argue that a country’s development should be measured not purely by economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), but also by gross national happiness (GNH), just like in Bhutan (Karma, 2008).
One of the most important issues in the field of subjective well-being is the relationship between happiness and age (Blanchflower and Oswald, 2008 and Easterlin, 2006). The question becomes even more important when considering the shift in age structure associated with the population ageing faced by virtually every country in the world. It is expected that by 2050, the proportion of older persons (60 years and older) will reach 21% of the total population and that, by the same year, the number of older persons will surpass the number of younger persons (under 15 years) for the first time in history (United Nations, 2009). Population ageing has a deep impact on a wide range of political, economic, and social issues crucial for the well-being of both the younger and older generations.
