A smiling person opens a red front door, revealing their home in the background.
A smiling person opens a red front door, revealing their home in the background.

IKEA Life at Home Report 2024
Bring joy home

It’s here! The IKEA Life at Home Report 2024 reveals that enjoyment at home is a key ingredient for satisfaction with life, but how can we make more room for joy?

For more than a decade, we’ve been looking around the globe, meeting people, collecting insights and discovering what life at home means to the many people – and how we can make it better. For the latest IKEA Life at Home Report, we surveyed 38,630 adults across 39 countries and visited more than 24 homes in three countries.

The latest report focuses on enjoyment. Despite being one of the top needs for a better life at home, 36% of us aren’t finding enough of it. So, what brings us joy, and how can we bring it home? Let’s meet some of the people we spoke to, and discover how they find joy in their everyday life at home.

Come on in!

Estelle, USA

Home is our playground

Estelle, her husband Isaiah, and their young daughter live in a rented apartment in New York, just above the jazz bar where both parents work. Estelle also runs her own culinary event agency, so one of the bedrooms is home to her catering equipment, but that doesn’t stop play in the rest of the home. Although the couple don’t finish work until late at night, during the day the family finds plenty of joy sharing hobbies, such as painting, and of course, play!

Estelle and her husband sit and look at their child, sitting on Estelle's lap. They all smile.

Natalia and David, Spain

Music is everywhere

Natalia and David share their 80m2 apartment in Barcelona with their children and their dog. The family finds joy in cooking, entertaining, and music – there’s always a musical instrument lying around. Though they renovated the home when they moved in to maximise space, balancing working from home and family life in a small apartment can be challenging. But despite all its drawbacks, it’s still the perfect home for them.

David plays a piano next to his child, who is playing a small, red children's piano.

“We love music, and we have disco nights here in the house with our children. We love putting on music and just having a dance.”

Natalia and David, Barcelona

David smiles at his wife Natalia. She looks at him and smiles.

Miquel and Daragh, Spain

Friday night is movie night

Miquel and his Irish partner, Daragh share their three-bedroom rented apartment in Barcelona with their adopted teenage children. Renting in big cities like Barcelona can be expensive, but the couple rent out two smaller apartments that they own, so they can afford their family home. Sometimes it can be tricky to find time and space to be alone, but on Friday evenings when it’s time for a movie and pizza, being together is what really counts.

A family sit on a long green sofa, while eating pizza on their laps. They are talking and smiling.

Rita, India

Finding comfort in our surroundings

In Rita's two-bedroom apartment in Delhi, which she shares with her husband, the aches and pains that come with age have led Rita to focus more on health and wellbeing at home. Exercise and healthy eating are important to her, as well as an emotional attachment. Since Rita’s son passed away, the small home is filled with things that bring back memories. It’s these memories, along with her teaching work in the community, that bring joy and comfort.

Rita looks at a sari hanging on a clothes hanger.

What brings us joy at home?

A person sits on a sofa, laughing.

There's nothing like a good laugh with friends, particularly in Chile, where 43% of the people surveyed admitted to loving a bit of a giggle.

Hugging is one of the five top drivers of enjoyment at home, and nobody loves it more than the Danes. At 48%, Denmark is the country most likely to hug it out with friends and family.

Hobbies and interests are the second most popular way to enjoy life at home, especially in China, where 43% of people enjoy different pastimes.

A person playing a trumpet.

Yajun, USA

Good vibes only

Yajun’s rented studio apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is a sanctuary of calm – a space to take a break from her busy career and the bustle of New York City. It’s a place where she can truly be herself. Originally from China, she brings traditions from home, and adds her own personal stamp on the space with things that she can easily take with her when it’s time to move on.  

Yajun stands on one foot in her apartment, with hands together in a yoga pose.

“For me, home is a free charging station where I can both relax physically – have a good night's sleep – and intellectually, to recharge and learn more things. I like to recharge my knowledge base and pursue different topics of interest.”

Yajun, New York

Yajun sits on the sofa.

Nikhil, India

A family unit

Family is everything to Nikhil, who works in his family-run clothes shop with his brother and father. After work, he returns to his three-bedroom apartment, where he lives with his wife Shweta and their daughter, as well as his mother, father, brother, and sister-in-law. It’s not easy to find time and space for yourself in a multigenerational household, but with the advantages of support with childcare and a strong family bond, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nihil sits on the sofa in the living room with family members.

The future of life at home?

Even decades of research can’t tell us exactly what the future holds, but based on insights, we looked at some of the potential pockets of future behaviour that are already emerging today. Take empathy for example. By making empathy central to our lives now, while working for a better legacy for the future, we can be good ancestors to future generations.

And what if digital solutions and AI could bring us emotional support and new ways to experience joy and belonging? Even if no one knows what life at home will be like in the future, the latest IKEA Life at Home Report can tell us quite a bit about how we live right now and where we might be heading.

The silhouette of the back of a person looking out over a city landscape at sunset.

Let's bring joy home!

Home isn't about square metres; it's what lives within them that counts. Enjoyment is just one of the many needs for a better life at home. To learn about how the many people around the world find joy at home, along with more interesting insights, click below.

Read the Life at Home Report