How to be happier: what research says about happiness, money and relationships, and what helps

Happiness means different things to different people, so researchers usually narrow it down to subjective well-being. It looks at three things together: how satisfied you are with your life as a whole (life satisfaction), how often you feel good emotions such as joy, and how seldom you feel bad ones such as worry or sadness (Diener et al., 1999). Some studies separate the judgement you make when you look back on your life (life evaluation) from the emotional quality of your days (emotional well-being), and the two had different correlates (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).

Seeing happiness as gaining pleasure and avoiding pain is called the hedonic view; seeing it as finding meaning, realising your potential and functioning fully is called the eudaimonic view. The two views have led to different lines of research that diverge in some areas and complement each other in others (Ryan & Deci, 2001). In this guide, happiness mostly means subjective well-being as described above.

In short, happiness is partly inborn but not fixed. In a meta-analysis of twin and family studies, genes accounted on average for 36% of the differences between people in well-being (Bartels, 2015), and some people’s happiness changed for years after a major life event (Lucas, 2007). In a study of university students, the very happiest never lacked good relationships (Diener & Seligman, 2002). Higher incomes went with higher life evaluations, but the link with daily feelings depended on the person (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010; Killingsworth et al., 2023). Exercises meant to make people happier had small effects on average (White et al., 2019). There is no single secret; it is closer to building up small changes over time.

This guide covers how much happiness can change, how relationships and money relate to it, how well happiness exercises work, happiness in Korea and the paradox of chasing it, and practical steps in light of the research. mind.io has no happiness test. An exercise that puts your top strengths to new use is discussed below, and the VIA strengths test shows the order of your strengths among 24.

A 2015 meta-analysis reviewed 30 twin and family studies and found that estimates of heritability, the share of differences explained by genes, ranged from 0% to 64%. Weighted by sample size, the average was 36% for overall well-being, across 55,974 people, and 32% for life satisfaction, across 47,750 (Bartels, 2015). Heritability splits up the differences between people in a population, so it does not mean that 36% of one person’s happiness is fixed. A highly heritable trait can still change (Brown & Rohrer, 2020).

The “hedonic treadmill” theory, once widely accepted, held that after good or bad events people soon return to their usual level of happiness, their set point. A 2006 review set out five revisions it needed: set points are not neutral, neither happy nor unhappy; they differ from person to person, partly with temperament; pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings and life satisfaction can move in different directions; set points themselves can change under some conditions; and people differ in how they adapt to events (Diener et al., 2006).

Large panel studies showed that events such as divorce, the death of a spouse, unemployment and disability are linked with lasting changes in happiness, and that people differ a great deal in how far they adapt (Lucas, 2007). A meta-analysis of longitudinal data from 188 publications and 65,911 people also found that events acted differently on life satisfaction and on feelings. After unemployment, life satisfaction only got back to its earlier level after about 3 years, while feelings stayed below their earlier level. Happiness was higher than usual just before marriage, and that rise did not last after the wedding (Luhmann et al., 2012).

The claim that “40% of your happiness is up to you” comes from a pie chart in a 2005 paper. It proposed that genes account for about 50% of the differences between people and life circumstances for about 10%, which leaves “as much as 40%” for intentional activities (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). A 2020 critique found little empirical support for that split: genes, circumstances and activities are not independent of one another (the inclination to exercise, for instance, is partly heritable), measurement error is left out, and other plausible estimates would give as little as 5% by the same arithmetic (Brown & Rohrer, 2020). The original authors agreed with many of these criticisms. They held that research still supports their main premise, that people can raise their well-being through intentional behaviour and keep it up, but said the effects may be weaker than they first thought (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2021).

One study took 222 university students and compared the top 10%, who came out consistently very happy across several measures, with average and very unhappy students. The very happy students were highly social and had stronger romantic and other relationships. They were more extraverted and agreeable and lower in emotional sensitivity (neuroticism). They did not, however, exercise or take part in religious activities more, or have more objectively good things happen to them. No single factor was enough to guarantee happiness, but good relationships turned out to be necessary. Even the happiest students had low moods now and then (Diener & Seligman, 2002).

The Harvard study of adult development began between 1939 and 1942 with 268 male second-year students. One paper from it interviewed 47 couples, the men now in their 80s, by phone on 8 evenings in a row. People more satisfied with their relationship saw less of a drop in happiness on days they felt in poorer health, and how closely time with their partner went with a happier day also depended strongly on that satisfaction. It was a small sample of 47 couples, all of them white (Waldinger & Schulz, 2010).

In an analysis of more than 450,000 survey answers from US residents, income and education were more closely related to life evaluation, while health, caregiving, loneliness and smoking were relatively stronger predictors of daily feelings than of life evaluation (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010). Studies like these show things that go together, so they cannot tell whether relationships make people happier or happier people find relationships easier. Researchers have noted that the causal role of factors such as marriage or income seems obvious but is by no means certain (Diener et al., 1999). If loneliness has lasted a while, evidence-based ways forward are in loneliness: what helps.

How money relates to happiness depended on what was measured. In a 2010 analysis of more than 450,000 answers from US residents, life evaluation rose steadily with income, but emotional well-being, measured by feelings the day before, did not improve further beyond an annual income of about $75,000. With a low income, misfortunes such as divorce, ill health and being alone also went with more emotional pain (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).

A 2021 study analysed 1,725,994 real-time mood reports that 33,391 employed US adults sent from their smartphones. Both daily feelings and life evaluation kept rising with income, with no plateau above $75,000 (Killingsworth, 2021). In these studies income is on a log scale: well-being rises by a similar amount each time income goes up by the same proportion, for example each time it doubles.

Since the two studies disagreed, authors of both joined another researcher to reanalyse the 2021 study’s data, in what is called an adversarial collaboration, where researchers with opposing views test them together. In the least happy 15–20% of people, happiness rose with income up to about $100,000 and then barely moved; for most others it kept rising, and among the happiest it rose faster above $100,000 (the statistically clear case was the 85th percentile). The link itself was weak, though: the correlation between happiness and log income was 0.09, and median happiness differed by about 5 points on a 100-point scale between household incomes of $15,000 and $250,000. The authors suggested that some miseries are not eased by a higher income, giving heartbreak, bereavement and clinical depression as possible examples. These results too describe how income and happiness go together at one point in time (Killingsworth et al., 2023).

A study of Swedish lottery players, surveyed 5 to 22 years after a large win, found that people who won big prizes had higher life satisfaction than comparable players for more than a decade, with no sign of it fading. The effects on happiness and mental health were significantly smaller, and satisfaction with their finances played a large part in the rise in life satisfaction (Lindqvist et al., 2020).

Where money goes matters too. In a 2008 study, people who spent more of their income on others were happier, and people randomly assigned to spend money on others were happier than those who spent it on themselves (Dunn et al., 2008). In surveys from 136 countries, spending on others went with happiness in poor and rich countries alike (Aknin et al., 2013).

The replications are more mixed. The 2008 experiment had 46 participants; with 133 and the same analysis, a replication found no significant difference, though a separate analysis of a more direct happiness question showed an effect in the original direction (Kim et al., 2022). In a large pre-registered replication, 712 students who bought something for a stranger in need felt happier in the moment, but 1,950 adults asked to recall past spending showed no difference, and in a rerun with 5,199 the difference was small (Aknin et al., 2020). Spending on others can go with happiness, but how much depends on the method.

Activities meant to build positive feelings, behaviours or thoughts are called positive psychology interventions. A 2009 meta-analysis of 51 such interventions with 4,266 people reported that they raised well-being (r = 0.29) and reduced depressive symptoms (r = 0.31). Effects were larger for people who were depressed, who had chosen to take part or who were older, and for interventions delivered one to one over longer periods (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009).

A 2013 meta-analysis limited to randomised controlled trials found smaller effects. Across 39 studies with 6,139 participants, the standardised mean differences were 0.34 for subjective well-being, 0.20 for psychological well-being and 0.23 for depression, and 3 to 6 months later the effects on well-being were small but still there. There were signs of publication bias, and study quality varied widely (Bolier et al., 2013). A 2019 reanalysis pointed out that many studies in both meta-analyses were small and that small studies clearly tended to report larger effects. Taking this into account left a small but significant effect on well-being of about r = 0.10, while the effect on depression varied, depended on outliers and was generally not significant (White et al., 2019).

A 2021 meta-analysis pooled 347 studies with more than 72,000 participants in 41 countries. Programmes averaging about ten sessions over six weeks had small to medium effects on well-being (g = 0.39) that held at 3 months. People with clinical problems were included, and effects were larger for people with clinical problems in non-Western countries who took part in longer individual or group programmes combining several activities (Carr et al., 2021).

A 2005 experiment tested some of the best-known exercises. Writing down each night three things that went well that day and why, and using one of your top five strengths from a strengths survey in a new way every day for a week, raised happiness and reduced depressive symptoms for 6 months. A group asked only to note their top strengths and use them more often benefited right after the week and not afterwards (Seligman et al., 2005). A study repeating the method, however, found that a placebo exercise bringing positive information about oneself to mind also raised happiness lastingly (Mongrain & Anselmo-Matthews, 2012), and a study that repeated the original exercises exactly could not tell their effects apart from a placebo’s (Woodworth et al., 2017).

A meta-analysis of 27 experiments with 4,045 participants found that doing acts of kindness raised the doer’s well-being by a small to medium amount (δ = 0.28), with no sign of publication bias (Curry et al., 2018). In an 8-month experiment, gratitude and optimism exercises worked better for people who knew the study was about becoming happier and chose to join, and for those who kept putting in effort (Lyubomirsky et al., 2011). The evidence on gratitude journals and its limits are covered separately in gratitude journal: does it work.

In the World Happiness Report 2026, South Korea ranked 67th of 147 countries. The ranking uses a Gallup World Poll question asking people to place their current life on a scale from 0, the worst possible life, to 10, the best, averaged over the three years 2023–2025, so it measures the life evaluation described above. Korea scored 6.04, Japan ranked 61st with 6.13, and Finland came first with 7.76. In the previous year’s ranking from the same data, Korea was 58th with almost the same score, 6.04. Ranks also move with other countries’ scores, and each score has a margin of error (World Happiness Report 2026).

Whether chasing happiness goes with being happier depended on culture. In a study of mostly university students in the US, Germany, Russia and East Asia (Japan and Taiwan), the motivation to pursue happiness went with lower well-being in the US, was unrelated to it in Germany and went with higher well-being in Russia and East Asia. The difference was explained by people in Russia and East Asia tending to pursue happiness in ways that involve other people. Korea was not part of the study (Ford et al., 2015).

A US study found that placing too much value on happiness can backfire. Among 59 women, those who valued happiness more reported lower happiness if their recent lives had been less stressful. In an experiment with 70 women, those who had read a passage extolling the benefits of happiness felt less good after a happy film clip, and disappointment with their own feelings explained this. Both studies included only women in the US (Mauss et al., 2011).

Which exercises suit people in Korea? In a study comparing 520 US and Korean university students, kind acts raised well-being about equally in both countries, but Korean students gained significantly less than US students from writing gratitude letters (Layous et al., 2013). A single study cannot settle the question, but which exercise suits whom may differ.

Taken together, the studies point to a few things. First, give time to relationships. In a study of university students, the very happiest never lacked good relationships (Diener & Seligman, 2002), and in the study of older couples, people more satisfied with their relationship saw less of a drop in happiness on days of poorer health (Waldinger & Schulz, 2010). The quality of a relationship seems to matter as well as the time spent together.

Second, do something for others, even something small. Acts of kindness raised the doer’s well-being by a small to medium amount (Curry et al., 2018), and spending on others could raise happiness in the moment, by an amount that depended on the method (Aknin et al., 2020). Third, money matters but is not everything. Life evaluations rose with income (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010), but among the least happy 15–20%, feelings stopped improving above a certain income, and the differences were small (Killingsworth et al., 2023).

Fourth, keep your expectations of happiness exercises modest and choose ones that suit you. Their effects were small on average (White et al., 2019), and larger when people wanted to do them and kept at it (Lyubomirsky et al., 2011). Fifth, do not push yourself to be happy all the time. Placing too much value on happiness made disappointment more likely even in good moments (Mauss et al., 2011), and even the happiest students in that study had low moods now and then (Diener & Seligman, 2002). Ways to treat yourself kindly rather than harshly when you feel bad are in how to build self-compassion, and ways to ease stress are in how to relieve stress.

If, despite your efforts, your mood has been low and things have lost their interest for more than 2 weeks, rather than trying to get through it with happiness exercises, see where you are with the depression check-in (PHQ-9) and talk to someone: in Korea, a psychiatric clinic or a local mental health welfare centre; elsewhere, a family doctor or a local mental health service. A self-check is not a diagnosis. Treatments that help with depression are covered in depression: what helps. If you have thoughts of ending your life, do not carry them alone: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, or call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, right away. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

Q. Is there really a way to become happier? A. There is no sure-fire secret, but happiness can change. It can shift for years after major life events (Lucas, 2007), and happiness exercises showed small effects on average (White et al., 2019). Looking after your relationships, doing small kind things for others and keeping up exercises that suit you fit the research well.

Q. Isn’t happiness 50% genetic, with 40% up to me? A. That pie chart (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005) has been criticised as poorly supported (Brown & Rohrer, 2020), and its authors agreed with many of the criticisms (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2021). In a meta-analysis of twin and family studies the heritability of well-being averaged 36% (Bartels, 2015), but heritability splits up differences within a population, so it does not tell how much one person’s happiness can change.

Q. How much money do I need to be happy? A. There is no set figure. The often quoted $75,000 was where daily feelings stopped improving in a 2010 study (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010), but a later reanalysis of the 2021 data found that for most people happiness kept rising with income, and only the least happy 15–20% levelled off above about $100,000 (Killingsworth et al., 2023). All of these are US data, and they describe how income and happiness go together.

Q. Where does Korea rank for happiness? A. In the World Happiness Report 2026, South Korea ranked 67th of 147 countries, with 6.04 out of 10 (World Happiness Report 2026). The score is an evaluation of life as a whole averaged over 3 years, so it can differ from day-to-day mood, and ranks also move with other countries’ scores.

Q. Is there a test that measures happiness? A. mind.io has no happiness test. In a study of university students, the very happiest tended to be more extraverted and agreeable and lower in emotional sensitivity (Diener & Seligman, 2002), and the Big Five personality test shows such traits as scores. That does not mean personality decides your happiness.

Q. I am so unhappy that I don’t want to be alive. A. Please do not carry this alone. Reach out to a crisis line right away: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

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