Fountain of Happiness: Older Adults' Outlook on Life and Optimism Towards the Future

By

Laura Skufca, AARP Research

Fanni Farago

Most older adults say they’re happy and express an optimistic outlook, expecting their lives to improve as they get older, a new AARP survey finds. Yet, their view of the future of the

country and world as a whole isn’t as rosy.

Personal happiness

Nearly 9 in 10 adults ages 50 and older are at least somewhat optimistic about their future, with half (49%) being extremely or very optimistic. Likewise, most (86%) 50-plus adults are happy

and are expecting to live a long, prosperous life. Happiness increases with age, with those ages 65-plus happier than those ages 50–64 (25% vs. 17% very happy).

That positive future outlook does not entirely translate to the nation’s future, however, with 61% of older adults expressing optimism about their country, significantly less than the 89%

who expressed optimism for their own future. A lower 54% expressed optimism concerning the world as a whole.

When it comes to relationships, things only get better with age. Nearly three in 10 (28%) believe their relationships with friends and family have improved over the last five years, and 45%

feel they will only get better.

Older adults seem to want more years of life than they realistically believe they will get. While people age 50-plus would like to live to a median age of 92 years, their median estimate of

how long they will actually live falls shorter, at 85 years.

The survey, meanwhile, revealed somewhat of a disconnect in older adults’ self-assessed health versus their actual medical history. More than four in 10 (41%) reported their health as being

excellent or very good, yet 74% are living with at least one chronic condition and half (53%) have two or more conditions.

Life’s best decade

Notably, despite most older adults saying they’re both happy currently and optimistic about what the future holds in store, two-thirds say their best decade came before age 50. When older

adults assessed past decades, life as thirty-somethings had the most appeal (26%), followed by the twenties (21%) and forties (20%). The experience of being 50-something, meanwhile, fell in

the same range, at 19%.

Methodology

NORC administered this online survey to a nationally representative set of 1,013 adults age 50 and older in September 2024 via the Foresight 50+ Consumer Omnibus Survey. For more

information, please contact Laura Skufca at lskufca@aarp.org. For media inquiries, contact External Relations at media@aarp.org.

Suggested citation:Skufca, Laura, and Fanni Farago. Second Half of Life: Annotated Questionnaire. Washington, DC: October 2024. https://doi.org/10.26419/res.00872.001

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