Swedish Well-Being: The rising importance of age among demographic, personality, and social relationship factors

The main demographic and psychological correlates of Well-Being (WB) are well-established, but have not yet been assessed in the Swedish population–regularly ranked among the world's top five ranked WB nations–based on large, nationally representative data. Using 2023 Global Flourishing Study data (N = 15,068), this paper analyzes Swedish WB across three domains: demography (e.g., gender, age, and income), individual personality traits (e.g., Big Five neuroticism and extraversion), and social relationship qualities (e.g., loneliness and relationship satisfaction). Using machine learning regression models based on these three domains, we regressed a composite 13-item WB measure–i.e., a general factor consisting of positive markers (e.g., happiness, life balance) and negative markers (e.g., depression, anxiety)–with an accuracy of r = .79 (cross-validated training) that generalized well to a holdout set (r = .79). Age was the strongest demographic marker of Swedish WB among the 65 predictors (lasso β = .10; bivariate r = .32), only surpassed by the classically strong WB predictors of neuroticism (β = −.33), loneliness (β = −.24), relationship satisfaction, (β = .17), and friendship contentment (β = .17). We replicated the age–WB relationship with complementary Gallup World Poll data; spanning 2006 to 2024, and the data suggested that older Swedes have indeed pulled ahead of young Swedes in WB, albeit only in the last five years. Further, with this paper's focus on the demographics of WB in Sweden, it offers an unprecedented set of political identity graphs for the benefit of researchers, policymakers, and the common public. The overall conclusion is that while personality and social relationship quality are stronger markers than demography for Swedish WB, age is the strongest demographic predictor, and has grown in significance recently. The findings will ideally inform and guide Swedish public policy and politics, particularly in addressing the declining WB of young Swedes.