by What does it mean to lead a good life? Psychologists and social scientists have focused on a new idea called Florishing-a sense of well-being that goes beyond happiness or success. The point is that your entire life is good, including how you deal with other people and your community. So how do Africans do when it comes to blooming?
Victor Telled is a psychological scientist whose research in 40 African countries offers a data -rich reconsideration of flourishing on the continent. His findings challenge the dominant story that Africa is ‘lagging behind’ in development by showing a more nuanced image of what it means to live a good life. We asked him more.
What blooms?
Blooming is more than economic growth or individual happiness. It is a multidimensional state of being that reflects how people think about their lives and how well their lives actually go. So it also measures the values of people within their community.
The idea of well-being often places a Eurocentric emphasis on individual-personal satisfaction, autonomy, performance. Flowering explanations for how the whole of a person is in relation to his environment.
It includes the social, spiritual and ecological contexts in which one lives. So it’s not just about how you feel, but how you live – fully, meaningful and in a satisfactory relationship with the world around us.
What is the global thriving study?
The global thriving study tries to measure global patterns of human flowering. It is a constant five -year -old longitudinal study with more than 200,000 participants in 22 countries.
I was one of the team of global scientists who were brought together to investigate the trends about what it means to live well in cultures and living conditions.
Read more: Why does people flourish? A new study, including more than 200,000 people in 22 countries, searches for global patterns and local differences
The study identifies six important dimensions of bloom:
-
Happiness and satisfaction of life
-
Mental and physical health
-
Closes social relationships
-
Financial and material stability
Participants assess how they do it on each of these areas on a scale of 0 to 10. Further questions contain experiences with regard to trust, loneliness, hope, resilience and other related welfare variables.
Of the 22 countries, five African: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Egypt.
Although these countries were not the global rankings (Indonesia and Mexico), Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt all reported relatively high flourishing scores, especially when well -being was considered apart from the financial status.
Nigeria, for example, was arranged in 5th place worldwide in flowering scores that exclude financial indicators – for much richer countries. Nigerians indicated strong points in social relationships, character and virtues (such as forgiveness or helping others). But potential growth areas include financial well -being, housing, ethnic discrimination and education.
In general, this suggests that although material means matter, they are not the only thing that determines well -being. Kenya is in 7th place, Egypt 10th, Tanzania 11th and South Africa 13th. Every unique strengths in areas such as meaning, social connection or mental health.
You have done a separate investigation into blooming in Africa. What have you found?
In a study from 2024 we have analyzed data from the Gallup World Poll (2020-2022) to explore 38 indicators of well -being in 40 African countries.
This study offered a more detailed and cultural -sensitive picture of how Africans experience and prioritize bloom. The dimensions investigated were derived from both local and universal sources, making it possible to be regionally relevant insights.
We discovered that African populations often score high significance, character and social relationships – despite economic hardships. This offers an important correction for Western assumptions about well -being.
Some of our most important findings were:
● There is a considerable diversity between and within African countries. Mauritius is consistently highest in life evaluations (general satisfaction with their lives), while countries such as Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe scored the lowest.
● East African countries such as Rwanda and Ethiopia showed strong performance in social welfare indicators (such as feeling respected or learning new things every day), even if the economic indicators were low.
● Countries in West Africa, such as Senegal and Ghana, scored high in emotional well-being, where many people report positive daily emotions such as pleasure and laughter.
● Southern African countries, despite challenges such as income inequality, resilience showed great community ties and cultural practices rooted in the philosophy of Ubuntu.
The results reinforced that flowering in Africa can not only be reduced to the gross domestic product (GDP) per head of the population (a benchmark for the average economic output per person in a country) – nor to Western standards of success.
What can African countries flourish on?
In my opinion, the path to greater flowering lies in embracing local knowledge and investing in culturally relevant development priorities. Instead of following Western paths – aimed at individual progress – Africa can model alternative thriving paths that reflect what is the most important thing for African people.
1. Prioritize local knowledge systems
African ideas about a connected society – such as Ubuntu (South Africa), Ujamaa (East Africa), Teranga or Wazobia (West -Africa), and Al-MUSAWAT WAL TARAHUM (North Africa) Teach people to take care of each other and live in peace. These values help people to live a meaningful life and can inform leadership and legislation.
2. Define development statistics again
Western development models focus on individual performance, economic output and material consumption. GDP per head of the population does not succeed in capturing the daily realities and ambitions of African communities. We also have to measure things such as how happy people are, how hopeful they think about the future, how strong and resilient their communities are and how clean, safe and worthy their life environments are.
This is not a new idea – years of development scientists have called for a shift of scary economic indicators in the direction of a focus on human dignity, freedom of choice and the real opportunities that people have to pursue to pursue the lives they appreciate. What is new is the growing availability of data and the momentum to take these alternative statistics seriously in shaping national policy and priorities.
3. Investing in education for character development
Quality education is essential to unlock the potential of the continent to flourish. But Africa needs more than just academic skills and readiness of the willingness – it needs a strategy for intentional development of values and customs that determine how a person feels, feels and acts with integrity.
Part of the problem lies in how the humanities – fields such as history, literature, philosophy and religious studies – are often undervalued or underwere in educational systems. But it is precisely these disciplines that feed moral imagination, critical reflection and social responsibility. We need educational models that not only form employees, but also whole people – people who can think ethically, act in a responsible manner and lead with character in their communities.
Read more: What makes a person wise? Worldwide research shows that cultures differ – but not as much as you would think
What does Africa offer the world in terms of blooming?
Africa is not waiting to be saved. On the entire continent, people build communities of care, cultivate joy in the midst of hardships and passing on values of unity, faith and compassion. This is what development looks like when it is rooted in human dignity.
Africa flowering goals offer an alternative vision of development – one that starts with what Africa already has, not what it is missing. These are local Emical ambitions for well -being. They are formed by the indigenous knowledge systems of Africa, cultural values and religious/spiritual traditions. The pursuit of these goals means giving priority to wholeness over wealth, community over consumption and resilience above salvation.
The continent has so much to offer to the world: wisdom, strong community values and ways to stay resilient and to live completely, even in difficult times. But many of these local insights are missing in the global science of well -being.
This article is re -published of the conversation, a non -profit, independent news organization that gives you facts and reliable analysis to help you understand our complex world. It is written by: Victor counted, Regent University
Read more:
Victor counted consults for Africa Flourishing Initiative
