Why People Over 50 Say Ages 30–34 Were Their Most Fulfilling Years

I remember hearing my school years described as “the best of my life” by adults as a teen and thinking, “surely not”. Since then, my doubts have proven warranted: I reckon my life’s gotten better every year since about 22. 

A new paper, which asked older European adults to list the best years of their life, supports that further.

Looking at data from adults aged 50+ across 13 countries, the researchers found that after reflecting on their lives, participants said their “subjective well-being” (SWB) peaked at 30-34. 

This is an “inverted U-shaped” trend

This is not the only research of its kind to find similar results. A 2021 American poll asked older people which age they’d most like to stay at – and 36 won out.

That, the European paper suggests, goes against previous “U-shaped” theories of happiness across age. Some studies state that SWB is high in adulthood, stays roughly level throughout adulthood, and peaks again in older age (some research says this falls sharply after 75).

But this paper, which the author says is “novel” in asking people “the period individuals recall as the happiest in their lives,” found more of an “inverted U-shape”, or “concave”, trend. 

It showed a “crest of happiness” from 30-34, which built up from childhood and tapered away as individuals aged.

Very few respondents said that childhood was the happiest period of their lives, even when their childhoods were relatively peaceful.

We don’t remember “midlife crises” as being particularly brutal, either

While SWB did seem to slowly fade after 34, the paper added, “Retrospectively, midlife is not perceived as the least likely happiest period in life”. 

This, despite other research which says people’s 40s and 50s are likely to be the least happy decades. 

“In retrospect, the midlife crisis is less evident than in studies based on current happiness assessments of current happiness,” the European study said. 

“On average, this stage of life is judged to be neither the least nor the most likely happiest period in an individual’s life.” This seemed to hold true regardless of the participant’s gender or nationality.