Focusing exclusively on average outcomes can mask inequalities in people’s circumstances and experiences, and indeed there are large differences in well-being between population groups. While men in OECD countries fare better than women in most labor market outcomes, they are more likely to become victims of homicide or die by suicide or drug overdose. Younger people tend to do relatively better in terms of health, subjective well-being and social connectedness, while middle-aged adults are more likely to be employed and feel more secure, and older people have more trust in their government. Those with higher education systematically do better than their peers with higher education. This is the case not only for employment outcomes, for which education dividends are well established, but also for non-material aspects of well-being: compared to the population average, people with higher education are 1.5 times less likely to be single, and 1.3 times less likely to experience physical pain.

Over the past decade, most age and gender gaps in well-being have narrowed. In some cases, this is because outcomes have improved and comparatively more disadvantaged groups have caught up: for example, since 2010, the share of women who feel safe walking alone at night has increased at a higher rate than that of men, and the long-term unemployment rate increased. for young people they doubled those of older age groups. However, in other cases the gaps narrowed as outcomes worsened, particularly for those who had (previously) done better: age differences in subjective well-being and social connectedness narrowed because young people have experienced the greatest relative declines in these aspects of their lives. The narrowing of gender gaps in feelings of worry, pain and loneliness was due to worsening of these outcomes, particularly for men.