Lebensfähig 2040
What sustains a good life when regular paid work no longer reliably provides structure, income, identity and belonging?
Central finding
The capacity to live well grows when life rests on several supportive foundations. Paid work currently provides much more than income; if it disappears, psychological and social risks can reinforce one another.
Six foundations for the capacity to live well
The domains describe different sources of stability, self-efficacy and belonging. Together, they reduce dependence on any single area of life.
A sustainable daily life needs personal rhythms, tasks and reliable routines when work no longer organises the day.
Closeness and connection do not arise automatically from free time. Relationships need deliberate attention and care.
Meaning often comes from concrete tasks, contributions and a sense of being needed, rather than grand life goals.
Movement, sleep, daylight and physical routines support energy and mental wellbeing, particularly when external structures disappear.
Making, repairing and creating things builds self-efficacy and produces visible results outside paid work.
Belonging, mutual support and shared resources make the capacity to live well a collective as well as an individual concern.
Work provides more than income
It often provides structure, social contact, recognition, identity, learning opportunities, movement and shared goals. If these functions disappear, some need to be rebuilt elsewhere.
Risks can reinforce one another
Loss of structure, withdrawal, difficulties with self-worth, numbing and loss of meaning can form downward spirals. These developments often begin quietly.
Stability needs several sources
The more a life rests on different supportive domains, the less its stability depends on a single system, particularly paid work.
Methodological context: The project combines future scenarios with insights from psychology, sociology, economics, work and futures research, health and happiness research, as well as conversations, observations and practical experience. It is not a representative empirical or experimental study. Its contribution lies in interdisciplinary synthesis, a map of risks and the resulting six-domain model. The model neither claims to replace paid work entirely nor to solve economic and political problems through individual self-optimisation. It identifies additional areas of life that people can strengthen to retain their capacity to act under uncertain conditions.
Learn more about Lebensfähig 2040 and the research