The Global Map of Gratitude: Who Feels It Most?

Have you ever wondered who feels the most gratitude in life? Researchers asked over 200,000 people across 22 countries a simple question: if you had to list everything you felt grateful for, would it be a very long list? People answered on a scale from 0 to 10.

The single most powerful predictor of gratitude across the world is the frequency of religious practice.

The results showed huge differences between countries. Indonesia came out on top with an average score of 8. 93, while Japan sat at the bottom with 5. 81 — a gap of more than three full points on a ten-point scale.

When researchers looked at who tended to feel most grateful across all countries, a few patterns emerged. Older people, women, married people, those with more education, and people who attend religious services frequently tended to report higher gratitude. The biggest gap of any demographic factor was tied to religious service attendance: people who went more than once a week scored about 1. 08 points higher than those who never went. But here is what makes this study so interesting — these patterns did not hold everywhere.

In Egypt, people who never attended religious services actually reported the highest gratitude. In India and the Philippines, younger people felt more grateful than older folks. And in Japan, even though most people reported no religion at all, those who did attend services still scored higher. This tells us that gratitude is shaped by culture, context, and personal experience in ways that don't follow one universal rule.