What makes life meaningful

This is one of those Pew Surveys you can stare at for a long, like a Zen dry garden, making up just so stories to explain the results.  From What Makes Life Meaningful? Views From 17 Advanced Economies.

No answers here, just pleasant speculation.

What do people value in life? How much of what gives people satisfaction in their lives is fundamental and shared across cultures, and how much is unique to a given society? To understand these and other issues, Pew Research Center posed an open-ended question about the meaning of life to nearly 19,000 adults across 17 advanced economies. 

From analyzing people’s answers, it is clear that one source of meaning is predominant: family. In 14 of the 17 advanced economies surveyed, more mention their family as a source of meaning in their lives than any other factor. Highlighting their relationships with parents, siblings, children and grandchildren, people frequently mention quality time spent with their kinfolk, the pride they get from the accomplishments of their relatives and even the desire to live a life that leaves an improved world for their offspring. In Australia, New Zealand, Greece and the United States, around half or more say their family is something that makes their lives fulfilling. 

Love that Britain is the only one among the seventeen for whom Faith is among the top five and even more struck by England where Hobbies are among the top three sources of meaning in life.  Without wishing to be pejorative, a nation of anoraks.  

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Even more intriguing is the alternate perspective.  Of all the sources of meaningfulness, Family & Children, Occupation and Career, Material Well-Being, Friends and Community, and Physical and Mental Health are the top five across all seventeen countries.  Healthy happy families, a good economy, and a tolerant open society - seems like something politicians should be focusing on rather than the nonsense that absorbs them.

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