The Prevalence and Predictors of Experiences of Beauty in 22 Countries: An International Assessment of Aesthetic Appreciation in the Global Flourishing Study

Experiences of beauty (EoB) are an important aspect of wellbeing for many people. However, there is relatively little understanding of factors associated with EoB, especially cross-nationally. We thus present the most comprehensive international study to date on this topic, assessing an item in the Global Flourishing Study (GFS): “Do you regularly experience things that you consider beautiful? This may include physical beauty or abstract beauty like that found in music, art, or nature.” The GFS is a five-year (minimum) panel study investigating the predictors of flourishing across 22 countries, with this item featuring in the Wave 1 “mid-year” survey (N = 131,487). Besides measuring flourishing-related outcomes, the GFS assesses 15 flourishing-related factors: four demographic, eight childhood, and three that pertain to both. Overall, the strongest demographic factor (indicated by the variation among the categories in their association with EoB) was education (with EoB higher among those with more education), and the strongest childhood factor was religious service attendance (especially weekly). Even more strikingly, some childhood factors associated with EoB were those that are negative, including even abuse; while that unexpected finding does not mean appreciating such adversity as having an “upside,” it points to EoB having complex roots, including forms of suffering that potentially make people more open and sensitive to the world. The cross-cultural variation was however substantial, with most trends not universal but subject to socio-cultural dynamics. More research is needed to provide deeper understanding of this important aspect of flourishing, for which this paper is a generative foundation and impetus.