Start hereAsk people in 17 advanced economies what makes life meaningful, and family comes first in most of them. After that, the answers split. Health came top in Spain, society in Taiwan and material well-being in South Korea. So how much of a good life is shared, and how much depends on where you live?
A way of life is how a person lives: what fills your days, who you share them with, and what you count as a good day. Ways of life matter because they change fast, and because what feels normal in one place can look quite different somewhere else. Below: what the phrase means, four findings about ways of life, and four ways to look at your own.
1. What “a way of life” means
A way of life is simply how a person lives, and it is also part of what a culture is.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines a way of life as “the manner in which a person lives”. UNESCO adopted its Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in Paris on 2 November 2001. It says culture covers, besides art and literature, “lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs”. It adds that “culture takes diverse forms across time and space”.
In plain words, a way of life is personal and shared at once. It is your own routine, built inside habits and values you picked up from the people around you.
For example, picture two neighbours on the same street. One eats dinner with family early in the evening; the other eats alone after a late shift. Same place, different ways of life.
Our page on what makes a good life looks at how the great traditions answered the question of how to live. It also covers what modern wellbeing research adds. This page looks at the everyday side: how ways of life change and how they differ.
2. Why ways of life matter: four findings
Four findings: ways of life change fast, differ from place to place, and even shape what science knows about people.
Ways of life can change within a lifetime
Where people live, and for how long, has shifted a great deal in a few generations.
In 1950, only 20 per cent of the world’s 2.5 billion people lived in cities, according to the UN. Today cities are home to 45 per cent of a world population of 8.2 billion. Rural areas are still the most common type of settlement in 62 countries, down from 116 in 1975.
The UN now counts towns separately, as places of at least 5,000 people with at least 300 people per square kilometre. Towns are the most common type of settlement in 71 countries.
The UN puts global life expectancy at birth at 73.3 years in 2024, up 8.4 years since 1995.
Our reading: with more people in cities and life expectancy rising, a way of life that feels normal may be quite new. Our series on things we take for granted follows this for everyday things such as clean water and electric light.
For example, a grandparent may have grown up in a village and you in a city flat. Both lives felt ordinary at the time.
How sure: Strong official UN estimates, though the city figures depend on where the UN draws the line between cities, towns and rural areas.
People find meaning in different places
Family came first in most of the 17 economies Pew surveyed; other sources of meaning varied a lot.
In 2021, Pew Research Center put an open-ended question about the meaning of life to nearly 19,000 adults across 17 advanced economies. An open-ended question is one where people answer in their own words. Because it was an open-ended question, the answers are what people chose to say, not picks from a list.
In 14 of the 17, family was named as a source of meaning more often than anything else. Other answers varied much more:
- Jobs were mentioned by 43% of people in Italy, but 6% in South Korea.
- In South Korea, material well-being was the top source of meaning.
- Health was the top source in Spain, at 48%, but was mentioned by 6% in Taiwan.
- In Taiwan, society, meaning “the institutions and attributes of where people live”, came top.
- Outside the US, religion was never among the top ten sources of meaning.
Some people said they did not understand the question, did not know how to answer or did not want to answer. That share ranged from 23% in the US to 1% in Spain. Pew notes that in some places people named fewer things, so a share can look low even for a top answer. For example, 19% of South Koreans mentioned material well-being, against 42% in Spain, yet it still came top in South Korea. Younger people tended to name friends, education and hobbies more often than older people.
Our reading: family looks widely shared in this survey; work, money, health and faith much less so. What makes a life feel meaningful depends partly on where you live.
For example, one person may name a steady job first and another their health, and both are describing a life that works for them.
How sure: Moderate one large survey, only in 17 advanced economies, and shares are hard to compare where people named fewer things.
Even the meaning of “happiness” has shifted
Across cultures and times, happiness was most often defined as good luck; in American English, as good feelings.
A 2013 study by Shigehiro Oishi and colleagues compared definitions of happiness in dictionaries from 30 nations. It traced the definition in Webster’s dictionaries from 1850 to the present day. It also coded US State of the Union addresses from 1790 to 2010. Last, it compared the phrases “happy nation” and “happy person” in Google’s Ngram Viewer from 1800 to 2008.
Across cultures and time, happiness was most often defined as good luck and favourable outside conditions. In American English, that definition was replaced by definitions about good inner feelings.
Our reading: when someone says “be happy”, they may mean “may things go well for you” or “feel good”. The word has carried both meanings.
For example, an older relative wishing you a happy life may mean a life where things go your way. A friend may mean one where you feel good most days.
How sure: Limited one team’s study, though it finds the pattern in several kinds of text.
Much of what we know about people comes from one way of life
Much behavioural research studies people from WEIRD societies, who can differ a great deal from humans as a whole.
In 2010, Joseph Henrich, Steven Heine and Ara Norenzayan reviewed research from across the behavioural sciences. They wrote that broad claims about human psychology are routinely published in the world’s top journals from samples drawn entirely from WEIRD societies: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.
Their review suggested substantial variability in results across populations, with WEIRD people frequent outliers. The areas covered included visual perception, fairness, cooperation, moral reasoning and self-concepts. They wrote that their findings suggest WEIRD people, young children included, are “among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans”.
In plain words, WEIRD is a reminder to ask which people a study looked at. A finding about “people” may really be a finding about one way of life. Even the Pew survey above covered only advanced economies.
For example, a headline about “how people decide” may rest on students at one university in one country.
How sure: Moderate a broad review of many studies; it suggests that results often vary across groups, not that every finding does.
3. How to look at your own way of life
Four small exercises. They borrow from the research above, but using them at home is our suggestion, not a tested method.
Rebuild yesterday, episode by episode
List yesterday as a string of episodes, then note how each one felt.
In 2004, Daniel Kahneman and colleagues described the Day Reconstruction Method. It “assesses how people spend their time and how they experience the various activities and settings of their lives”. People rebuild the previous day’s activities and experiences, with steps designed to reduce recall biases. The paper compared reports from 909 employed women with established results from another method, experience sampling.
You can borrow the Day Reconstruction Method’s basic idea at home. List yesterday in episodes, such as the commute, lunch or a long call. Then mark each one pleasant, neutral or draining.
For example, you may find the drive home was the low point of the day, and a call with a friend the high point.
How sure: Limited a research method, checked in one paper with one group of working women; the home version is ours.
Answer the question Pew asked
Write down, in your own words, what makes your life meaningful.
Outside the US, Pew’s question ended: “What aspects of your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying?” Write your answer before reading anyone else’s. Then set it beside yesterday’s list.
For example, if you write “friends” but yesterday’s list shows no time with friends, that gap is worth noticing.
Ask how recent your normal is
Pick one part of your day and ask how people did it a few generations ago.
The UN figures above are a start: more people in cities, and longer lives. Our series on things we take for granted covers light, water, vaccines, clock time and more.
For example, ask an older relative how they kept in touch with friends when they were your age.
Try one idea from another tradition
Borrow one idea about living well from another place or time, and try it for a week.
Our good life page sets several traditions side by side, and our Stoicism page goes deeper into one. If you want to change part of your routine, our summaries of The Power of Habit and Atomic Habits cover what research says about habits.
Our reading: a week of trying an idea tells you more about whether it fits your life than reading about it alone.
For example, pick one question about living well from the good life page and ask yourself it each evening for a week.
Quick answers
What does "way of life" mean?
The manner in which a person lives, says the Cambridge Dictionary. UNESCO also counts lifestyles and ways of living together as part of culture.
What makes life meaningful, according to research?
In a 2021 Pew survey of 17 advanced economies, family was named most often in 14 of them. Jobs, money, health and faith varied widely from place to place.
What are WEIRD samples?
Research participants from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic societies. A 2010 review suggested they are often outliers compared with the rest of humanity.
What is the Day Reconstruction Method?
A survey method in which people rebuild the previous day's activities and experiences, with steps designed to reduce recall biases.
Use this
Our suggestion: three of the exercises above to try this week.
Which parts of my day did I choose, and which did I just pick up?
Quick quiz
Nothing is scored or saved. Recalling it once now is what makes it last.
1. According to the UN, what share of the world's people lived in cities in 1950?
Answer: 20 per cent.Read it again ↑
2. In Pew's 2021 survey, what came top as a source of meaning in Taiwan?
Answer: Society.Read it again ↑
3. In research, what does WEIRD stand for?
Answer: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.Read it again ↑
How we checked this · Last checked November 2026
- We read the UN press release and report summary, the Pew report and its methods page, the UNESCO declaration, the dictionary entry, and the abstracts of three studies through PubMed.
- The Pew pages ask automated readers to pass a browser check, so we read them in a normal browser.
- The city and life expectancy figures use the same wording as our other pages that cite them.