Humor and laughter are central to our lives, no matter our age! This was a key finding from a recent Comedy Central Power of Laughter study of over 12,000 adults aged 18 to 49 in 21 countries around the world. Here are additional insights from this project on the role of humor in global adults’ lives:

Humor defines who you are. Adults 18 to 49 globally believe their sense of humor influences their identity more than anything else. With 86% agreement, sense of humor ranked higher than ethnic background (73%), musical taste (70%) and religion (68%).

We all need to laugh, no matter our age. More than 9 out 10 global adults 18 to 49 agree that everyone needs laughter in their life. In fact, people agree with this statement even more as they grow older, with 90% agreement among people 18 to 29, 93% among people in their thirties and 95% among people in their forties. It appears that life just keeps getting funnier—two-thirds of adults 18 to 49 think that as you get older, there is more to laugh about.

Giggling is good for you. Laughter really is the best medicine, with 91% of global adults agreeing that it helps them to relax and 90% agreeing that it keeps you young.

Everyone’s a comedian. Three-quarters of adults 18 to 49 think they’re funnier than people older them and almost the same percentage (72%) think they’re funnier than people younger than them.