The team from the British universities of Bath, Bath Spa and Exeter found that this is not the case.
In 86% of countries, people said that their absolute ideal life would be achieved with US$10 million, while in some it was as little as $1 million.
Despite these seven-figure fortunes, this is across their whole life, which equates to a rather moderate requirement, that could be achieved for more than 200,000 people if Elon Musk was to share out his substantial wealth.
“The ideology of unlimited wants, when portrayed as human nature, can create social pressure for people to buy more than they actually want,” said lead researcher, Dr Paul Bain from the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath. “Discovering that most people’s ideal lives are actually quite moderate could make it socially easier for people to behave in ways that are more aligned with what makes them genuinely happy and to support stronger policies to help safeguard the planet.”
Younger people want more
The study found that younger people, city dwellers, and those in countries with greater acceptance of wealth inequality were more likely to have unlimited wants.
