The United States is more unhappy than ever, according to a major new report.
The World Happiness Report, published by the United Nations, shows that the United States fell eight places, from 15th to 23rd this year.
This is the lowest ranking since the report – which covers 140 countries – was launched in 2012, and well below its record of 11th place.
Among those under 30, the United States ranks 62nd in happiness – behind post-Soviet countries like Serbia (3rd) and Latvia (31st) and even its southern neighbors Mexico (22nd). ) and Guatemala (49th).
The findings mean that overall, America’s 331 million people are now considered less happy than those living in post-Soviet countries like the Czech Republic and even Israel – although that country is currently fighting a war in Gaza.
They are also considered more unhappy than those in like-minded European countries, including the United Kingdom and Belgium. Finland has been ranked the happiest nation for the seventh year in a row.
The chart above shows how happiness rankings in the US, UK and Australia have changed over time.
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The report said the US’s decline – which also saw it fall out of the top 20 happiest countries for the first time – was due to the decline in well-being of those under 30.
Previous studies have shown that this generation is much lonelier than their peers, which is linked to a host of health problems, including higher rates of depression and anxiety.
Across the world, the report found that people born before 1965 were much happier than those born after 1980.
It has been observed that the happiness of millennials is decreasing every year. In contrast, baby boomers’ life satisfaction increases with age.
The United States ranks 62nd in happiness among young people. Among the elderly – defined as people over 60 – it comes in 10th place.
It scored 42nd for young-middle-aged and 17th for older-middle-aged.
Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row, according to an annual ranking sponsored by the United Nations. In the photo: Helsinki
Afghanistan was the unhappiest country (score of 1.72) among the 143 countries included in the UN-backed survey. In the photo: Kabul
In comparison, Britain ranks 32nd for young people, 27th for young middle-aged people, 19th for old middle-aged people and 20th for old people.
Lithuania (19th overall) has the happiest young people in the world ranking, while older people in Denmark (2nd overall) were the happiest on the planet.
Experts said the data showed a worrying trend among young people in Western Europe and North America who are experiencing the equivalent of a “mid-life crisis”.
Dr Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Professor of Economics at Said Business School in the UK, said: “Once again, the World Happiness Report reveals unique empirical insights at the forefront of well-being research. be.
“Pulling together the available data on the well-being of children and adolescents around the world, we found disconcerting declines, particularly in North America and Western Europe.
“The thought that, in some parts of the world, children are already experiencing the equivalent of a mid-life crisis demands immediate policy action.”
For the report, people from 140 countries were asked to say on a scale of one to ten how happy they were, with ten meaning very happy and zero very unhappy.
The findings were based on three years of data from people saying how happy they were.
The data showed that, overall, Finland was the happiest nation in the world for the seventh year in a row, scoring 7.7 out of ten.
Nordic nations Denmark, Iceland and Sweden took second, third and fourth place, with scores of 7.6, 7.5 and 7.3.
Only two of the ten happiest nations – Israel (7.3) and Australia (7.1) – were not in Europe.
Other countries surpassed America’s happiness score of 6.7 out of ten, including Canada, which ranked 15th with a score of 6.9.
Germany was ranked one place lower, at 24th, with a score of 6.6 out of ten, and Mexico was ranked two places lower, at 25th, also with a score of 6.6 out of ten.
Autocracies continue to fare much worse in the report, with China ranking 60th with a happiness score of just 5.9 – although this is up slightly from 64th last year’s place.
And Russia lost two places, to 72nd place, with a score of 5.8 out of ten, in the middle of the war in Ukraine.
Afghanistan and Lebanon, scarred by war, remain the two unhappiest countries in the world, with respective scores of 1.72 and 2.70.
The third most unhappy country was Lesotho, a landlocked African country, with a score of 3.18.
Forty-six of the 140 countries – or 32 percent – had a greater proportion of their overall population classified as unhappy than happy.