More U.S. adults thriving, fewer struggle

WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- More U.S. adults are thriving and fewer are struggling now than at any time since Gallup began tracking life trends in January 2008, the survey indicates.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index classifies Americans as either thriving, struggling or suffering. The percentage of "suffering" Americans is at 3.4 percent.

The high percentage of thriving Americans coupled with the low percentage of suffering Americans drove the overall Life Evaluation Index to a new high of 50.4 in February.

Life Evaluation Index scores in February improved substantially across demographic groups when compared with the same month last year. However, the main source of the improvement in 2010 has more to do with the low 2009 scores than with strong 2010 scores, Gallup said.

The Work Environment score of 48 in February compares negatively with the 48.7 in February 2009 year and the 51.6 in February 2008, reflecting a long-term downward trend in American workers' perceptions.

The telephone survey of 28,226 adults was conducted Feb. 1-28. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.