In North America and Western Europe, young people are much less happy than they were a year ago.
That’s the startling first sentence in this year’s World Happiness Report, issued on March 20, World Happiness Day.
This year’s report sheds a light on the alarming use of social media, especially among young people and its negative impact on happiness.
Canada fell to 25th place in in this year’s report, continuing a decade long decline. Finland ranked #1 again for the ninth year in a row. The US ranked 23rd and Britain 29th. For the second year in a row, no English speaking countries appear in the top ten.
Social media use was cited as a troubling factor especially for teenage girls in English speaking countries and teenagers.
Some disturbing findings from this year’s report.
- In general, most Western industrial countries are now less happy than they were between 2005 and 2010. Fifteen of them have had significant drops, compared to four with significant increases.
- In a ranking of happiness changes for under-25s, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (the NANZ region) rank between 122 and 133 in the list of 136 countries.
- In a sample of US college students, the majority wish social media platforms didn’t exist. They use them because others are using them, but they would prefer it if no one did.
- In regards to social media, “there is now overwhelming evidence of severe and widespread direct harms (such as sextortion and cyberbullying), and compelling evidence of troubling indirect harms (such as depression and anxiety).”
The report found that the nature of internet use and which age group and gender use it has a direct correlation to happiness and wellbeing. It is strongly negative for Gen Z, moderately negative for Millennials, near zero for Gen X, and slightly positive for Baby Boomers.
One of the studies the report cited was of 15-year olds in 45 countries, where they found life satisfaction is highest at low rates of social media use and lower at higher rates of use.
Platforms designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness, whereas those driven by algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association at high rates of use.
Communications, news, learning, and content creation are associated with higher life satisfaction. Social media, gaming, and browsing for fun are associated with lower life evaluations.
Last year, Australia banned social media for youth under the age of 16. Other countries say they are considering following their lead.
There was some good news in this year’s report.
- Looking at changes in happiness from 2006–2010 compared to 2023–2025, nearly twice as many countries have had significant gains (79) than significant losses (41), the biggest winners being in Central and Eastern Europe and the biggest losers being in or near zones of conflict.
- In eight of the ten global regions covering roughly 90% of the world’s population, those in the youngest age group have higher life evaluations now than in 2006–2010, either in absolute terms or relative to those over 25.
- Positive emotions continue to be twice as frequent as negative emotions.
- Outside the English-speaking world and Western Europe, the links between social media use and wellbeing are more positive, and depend greatly on the platforms used. Data from Latin America for example show that platforms with algorithmic feeds and featuring influencers are more likely to be negatively linked to life satisfaction than platforms that mainly facilitate communication.
Congratulations to Costa Rica, who jumped to fourth place (the report’s editors surmised this could be due to the quality of their social lives). Here is the list of top 10 happiest countries in the world.
- Finland
- Iceland
- Denmark
- Costa Rica
- Sweden
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Israel
- Luxembourg
- Switzerland
This week’s #HappyAct is to take a page from this year’s study and spend less time on social media. Delete an app or two. Stay happy.
Happy Act 