Jews Rank Highest on Well-Being Index

By Renee Ghert-Zand February 22, 2012

There’s a Yiddish saying, “It’s hard to be a Jew.” But according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Jews enjoy the highest well-being of all religious groups.

The research shows that the most religious members of all American religious groups have the highest well-being. Very religious Jews lead the way at 72.4%, with very religious Mormons close behind at 71.5%. However, there is a significant drop off in well-being level between very religious Mormons and less religious ones. Jews, on the other hand show a very small difference between the very religious, moderately religious and the non-religious.

Gallup included a number of different sub-indices in the research:

Analyzing the six well-being sub-indexes reveals the areas in which certain groups excel and others fall behind. Jews score proportionately higher on the Basic Access sub-index. Muslims score higher on the Life Evaluation and Physical Health Indexes, compared with the other faiths. Protestants, on the other hand, score lowest on the Life Evaluation Index and the Physical Health Index, compared with the other faith groups.

Not surprising to those who follow American Jewish demographic trends, Jews do not score as high up on religious intensity as they do on well-being. Whereas 73.4% of Mormons, 50.8% of Protestants, 46.9% of Muslims, and 43.7% of Roman Catholics identify as very religious, only 16.9% of Jews do so.

But religious or not so religious, the Jews are all right. Or so the numbers tell us, at least.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO