80 Examples of Needs

John Spacey, updated on June 05, 2024

Needs are the essential conditions that allow people to thrive. This includes physical, social, cognitive and cultural needs whereby people thrive if they are able to live a cultured life of great depth and experience. This begins in childhood with needs such as protection, parental bonding, play and socialization and progresses to higher level needs such as creative expression, freedom and pursuit of happiness. The following are common examples of needs.

Adventure	Aesthetic experiences
Belonging	Clean air
Clean environment	Clean water
Clothing	Cognitive stimulation
Community	Confidence
Cooperation	Creative expression
Cultural experiences	Cultured living
Digital access	Dignity
Doing good	Economic opportunity
Economic stability	Emotional bonds
Empathy	Exercise
Faith	Family
Food & nutrition	Freedom of movement
Freedom of speech	Freedom of thought & conscience
Friends	Giving
Gratitude	Growth
Health	Healthcare
Heritage and sense of connection to the past	Hygiene
Identity	Income
Independence & autonomy	Information
Introspection	Knowledge
Language	Learning opportunities
Love	Meaning & values
Meaningful work	Media access
Nature experiences	Norms
Opportunities to gain experience	Parental care
Personal sovereignty	Physical safety
Play	Purpose
Pursuit of curiosity	Pursuit of happiness
Reason	Relatedness
Reproduction	Respect
Rights & freedoms	Risk taking
Roles & responsibilities	Sanitation
Savings & wealth	Security
Self-expression	Self-fulfillment
Self-respect	Sense & sensation
Shelter	Sleep & rest
Social connectedness	Social stability
Socialization	Spirituality
Thinking	Trust

Needs vs Wants

A need is an essential requirement whereas a want is a desire for something. Generally speaking, wants are driven by needs. For example, if you want a trendy fashion item that may be driven by a need for social belonging or social status. It is not accurate to say that wants are unnecessary luxuries and needs are basic survival requirements. Needs exist in a hierarchy such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs from basic needs up to high level needs such as social, aesthetic and self-actualization needs. Wants simply correspond to needs. For example, it is incorrect to say that housing is a need and travel is a want. Travel is related to high level needs such as adventure that are also real needs.

Need Prioritization

People commonly prioritize their needs and this prioritization can be influenced by factors such as culture and worldview. Generally speaking, people will prioritize basic physiological needs such as air, water, food and shelter before higher level needs such as social needs. The well known theory Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a proposed prioritization of needs.

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