Gallup and The Art of Living have announced a global study aimed at creating a first-of-its-kind dataset on “meditation and wellbeing.”

The initiative was announced by Gallup on December 19, 2025, ahead of the United Nations-designated World Meditation Day on December 21, highlighting growing international interest in understanding how people practice meditation and why it matters.

Under the collaboration, Gallup will integrate new meditation-related questions into its World Poll, enabling global comparisons on meditation practices and their relationship to emotional health and wellbeing. According to a statement from Gallup, the effort combines the organization’s long-standing expertise in worldwide survey research with The Art of Living’s presence in more than 180 countries.

The statement noted that Gallup’s findings point to a clear global need for scalable approaches to support wellbeing. The State of the World’s Emotional Health 2025 report shows that negative emotions remain elevated worldwide, with 39 percent of adults reporting worry and 37 percent reporting stress, levels higher than those recorded a decade ago.

Since 2005, the Gallup World Poll has surveyed the world’s adult population through nearly four million interviews across more than 140 countries, providing what Gallup describes as a scientific window into people’s lives and uniquely positioning the organization to measure meditation at a global scale.

“Despite substantial global investment in wellbeing and mental health, the world still lacks enough reliable data on how people engage with meditation and how these experiences shape daily life,” said Ilana Ron Levey, managing director at Gallup. “This study will give leaders evidence they can use to understand meditation’s role in people’s lives.”

The collaboration also draws on The Art of Living’s decades of experience in empowering individuals and communities through meditation, yoga, and evidence-informed breathing techniques.

“For the first time, large-scale research is beginning to systematically examine meditation’s role in everyday life,” said Rob Trombold, president of The Art of Living. “This study signals an important step toward understanding wellbeing not as an abstract ideal, but as something that can be observed, measured and strengthened across societies.”

By adding new meditation questions to the World Poll, Gallup will analyze responses alongside established indicators of wellbeing, offering insights into how meditation fits into daily life across emotional, social, and life-evaluation domains, the statement said.

“Gallup and The Art of Living will also explore how meditation practices vary across regions, cultures and demographic groups, and how these practices relate to broader aspects of daily life,” the statement added. “The resulting dataset will provide a foundation for researchers, policymakers and community leaders seeking to better understand meditation’s role in supporting wellbeing around the world.”

International bodies such as the United Nations have noted that meditation can benefit health and wellbeing globally.

Following data collection and analysis, Gallup plans to release the study’s findings on World Meditation Day in December 2026. The results are expected to provide a coordinated global perspective on how people practice and experience meditation, helping educators, community and business leaders, governments, and health systems shape future wellbeing strategies.

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