Prevalence of successful aging in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

•Global prevalence of successful aging (SA) is 24.0 % among older adults.•Higher SA seen in males, aged 60–70, married/cohabiting, urban, and educated.•Developing countries show higher SA rates (27.1 %) vs. developed countries (16.8 %).•Findings support targeted health promotion and intervention strategies.•Future research should explore SA factors and less-studied regions. Successful aging (SA) describes the multidimensional aspects of achieving optimal physical and mental health and social well-being combinations in old age. Recent years have seen increasing interest in understanding SA prevalence. This study systematically evaluates the current state of SA globally, defined as multidimensional outcomes. To systematically evaluate the global prevalence of SA in older adults. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China Biomedical Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, and Weipu Database from inception to February 14, 2024. Two researchers independently conducted literature screening, data extraction, and quality evaluation. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 16.0. Thirty studies comprising 250,460 older adults were included. Meta-analysis showed the overall global prevalence of SA was 24.0 % [95 % CI (20.7 %, 27.3 %)]. Prevalence rates were 25.1 % in Asia, 21.5 % in Europe, 20.6 % in the Americas; 16.8 % in developed and 27.1 % in developing countries. Subgroup analyses indicated higher SA rates among male older adults, married/cohabiting, living in urban areas, and having higher education levels. The global prevalence of SA among older adults is low, with variations across age groups, regions, and education levels. Due to the limitations of the included studies, further high-quality research is needed to validate these findings.