Where Success Comes First

Where does success matter most? According to the results of a recent survey conducted by Statista between January and December 2025, Indians were amongst the most likely to consider "being successful" one of the three most important aspects in life: it was picked by 53 percent of respondents in the country. Out of 32 countries included in the survey, only three ranked higher than India: South Africe, where 59 percent of respondents considered being successful one of the three most important things in life, the Philippines (58 percent) and the United Arab Emirates (54 percent).

As our infographic shows, success was much less important to people in China and Japan, where 24 and 18 percent of respondents picked the answer, respectively. In China, the most common answer was safety and security, chosen by 45 percent of respondents, followed by a happy relationship (37 percent). In the United States, success ranked amongst the three most important things in life for four out of ten people, slightly less than in South Korea (41 percent).