Forgiveness Around the Global Flourishing Study
- Tyler VanderWeele
- Jun 23, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Forgiveness contributes to flourishing.
By Tyler J. VanderWeele Ph.D., Kate Jackson-Meyer, and Richard Cowden
Key points
Levels of forgiveness vary across the globe.
Childhood experiences shape subsequent adult forgiveness.
A new Global Flourishing Movement has the potential to promote forgiveness worldwide.
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Forgiveness is needed globally, and it is critical to flourishing. As social beings, we are all hurt, wronged, or offended by others at some point in life. One might contemplate numerous options for how to approach such wounds, from suppression of the hurt that leaves it unresolved and likely to re-emerge, to rumination, anger, and revenge-seeking that do not necessarily address root causes of the wounds. More constructively, one might seek justice, accountability, and forgiveness. The benefits of forgiveness and its relation to flourishing make forgiveness a powerful pathway toward both individual and community healing. This is why the Human Flourishing Program continues to research and prioritize the promotion of forgiveness. When the potential benefits of forgiveness are considered alongside how common it is to be hurt or wronged by others, forgiveness is an important public health issue worthy of greater attention.
Forgiveness and the Global Flourishing Study
With nationally representative data from roughly 200,000 adult participants across more than 20 countries, the Global Flourishing Study (GFS) has taken a key step in advancing our understanding of forgiveness as a public health issue by providing a novel opportunity to explore the distribution, determinants, and outcomes of forgiveness in a culturally and geographically diverse set of countries.
Using data from Wave 1 of the GFS, researchers at the Human Flourishing Program conducted two studies that examined (1) the distribution of forgiveness within and across the countries and sociodemographic correlates of forgiveness and (2) retrospectively recalled childhood predictors of subsequent forgiveness in adulthood.
In the first study, approximately 75 percent of people across the countries reported "often/always" forgiving those who had hurt them (the remaining 25 percent reported "rarely/never" forgiving others). National estimates of forgiveness ranged from 41 percent (Turkey) to 92 percent (Nigeria). In the 22 countries, the subgroups that reported the highest forgiveness across the most countries included the 80 years or older age group (13 countries), females (12 countries), those who are widowed (16 countries), those who are retired (11 countries), those who attend religious services more than once a week (18 countries), and those with 16 or more years of education (15 countries). The subgroups that reported the lowest forgiveness in the most countries were those in the 18–24 years age group (7 countries), those who are single and have never been married (10 countries), those who are unemployed and looking for a job (8 countries), those who never attend religious services (19 countries), and those with 8 or fewer years of education (11 countries).
In the second study, pooled regression estimates from the 22 countries suggested that early life conditions or experiences (e.g., more frequent religious service attendance, better health, more secure family financial status), and social circumstances or influences when growing up (e.g., higher quality maternal and paternal relationships) are associated with a higher likelihood of forgiveness in adulthood. Although there was some variation in the pattern of associations across the countries, the findings suggest there may be value in implementing multipronged interventions and policy initiatives targeting different aspects of a child’s environment during the early years of life to support the development of forgiveness.
Together, these two studies provide nationally representative benchmarks of forgivingness in 22 countries, point to possible differences in forgiveness among sociodemographic subgroups, and identify potential childhood factors that may contribute to the development of forgiveness in adulthood. The findings offer important insights that policymakers and public health experts might draw on in their efforts to promote forgiveness, while also laying the foundation for future population-level forgiveness research in the GFS. As future waves of GFS data are collected and analyzed, we hope to gain additional insights into the role of forgiveness in flourishing, especially its effects on well-being.
Promoting Forgiveness: Human Flourishing Program’s Global Forgiveness Movement
Because forgiveness can make individuals and communities stronger and healthier, the Human Flourishing Program has launched the Global Forgiveness Movement. This initiative, funded by generous support from Bancel Philanthropies and the Kern Family Foundation, aims to use our research and evidence-based interventions to support flourishing by making the world a more loving and forgiving place.
The cornerstone of the Global Forgiveness Movement is the promotion of Everett Worthington’s evidence-based brief REACH Do-It-Yourself Forgiveness Workbook, which can be completed in a few hours. Worthington’s REACH model, one of the most widely tested models of forgiveness, encourages emotional forgiveness through the following steps:
(R) Recall the interpersonal hurt one experienced and the emotions associated with it.
(E) Try to empathize with the offender.
(A) Explore the idea that forgiveness can be seen as an altruistic gift to the offender.
(C) Make a voluntary commitment to forgive.
(H) Seek to hold onto or maintain forgiveness through difficult times.
As we have noted previously, the workbook was tested by the Human Flourishing Program and others in a randomized controlled trial. The trial, with more than 4,500 participants across five countries with a history of relatively high conflict (Colombia, South Africa, Ukraine, Indonesia, and Hong Kong), indicates that the workbook is effective in increasing individual forgiveness, reducing anxiety, reducing depression, increasing hope, and increasing flourishing.
The Human Flourishing Program has enhanced the workbook design to make it more user-friendly. In response to interest from churches, we have also made a version of the workbook adapted for use in churches. We hope to continue to make future adaptations to the REACH workbook to meet the needs of various communities as our initiative continues.
Kate Jackson-Meyer is research associate, Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University
Richard Cowden is psychology research scientist, Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University
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References
Cowden, R.G., Worthington, E.L., Jr., Chung, C.A. et al. (2025). Sociodemographic variation in dispositional forgivingness: a cross-national analysis with 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15, 12144.
Cowden, R.G., Worthington E.L., Jr., Weziak-Bialowolska, D. et al. (2025). Childhood predictors of dispositional forgivingness in adulthood: A cross-national analysis with 22 countries. Applied Research Quality Life.
