Who's Happy?

When AARP asked Americans aged 35 to 80 how happy they are, 68 percent said they were happy (pretty happy or very happy), and 30 percent said they were not too happy.

Your happiness depends on what's happening in your life--but not exactly in the way you might imagine. As suspected, the least happy people are those who have had financial trouble in the past year--only 47 percent say they're happy. In contrast, among those who have had a child or grandchild in the past year, a much larger 70 percent say they're happy. But the happiest people of all are those with no change in their life either good or bad. Among those with no big life events, 78 percent are happy.

Source: AARP, Beyond Happiness: Thriving