Young people's happiness has 'fallen sharply' for Canada and U.S. in global rankings

The latest edition of the World Happiness report shows people in Finland are firstin overall happiness. Canada is in 15th place,down two spots from last year, while its younger people are waydown the rankings in a newly addedcategory.

Finland has the world's happiest people for the seventh year in a row, accordingto the report released Wednesday to mark the UN's International Day of Happiness. The report ispowered by data from the Gallup World Poll and analyzed by a global team led by the University of Oxford.

Followingin order for overall contentment arethose living in Denmark, Iceland andSweden, based on factors linked to a country'sprosperity, as well as life expectancy,social bonds or having someone to count on, and freedom from corruption.

Rounding out the top 10 areIsrael, the Netherlands,Norway,Luxembourg,Switzerland andAustralia.

Forthe first time in the 12-year history of the survey, the United Statesis out of the top 20, falling to 23rd place, down from 15th last year,due to a big drop in the sense of wellbeing of Americansunder 30, the annual report shows.

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Life satisfaction from young to old

Separate rankings by age group were compiled for the first time for the report,and there were worrying findings for both the U.S. and Canada.

In most countries, life satisfaction typically drops gradually from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood, the authors said, and people aged 15 to 24 are still reporting greaterlife satisfaction than older adults, the authors said.

But the happiness agegap is narrowing in Western Europe and recently reversed in North America due to falling life satisfaction among the young under the age of 30,it said. Conversely, in sub-Saharan Africa, life satisfaction has increased among the young.

"In North America, Australia and New Zealand, life evaluations in 2021-2023 were lowest among the young, rising gradually with age to be highest among the old. The age gap favouring the old is evident in all four countries, while being much larger in the United States and Canada," the report said.

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Findings for people under the age of 30 showedCanada in 58th place, the U.S. in 62nd place andMexico in 22nd place.Australia was19th in the category and New Zealand was 27th.

Ages 60 and above

The report found thatLithuania topsthe happiness list for people under 30, and thathelped movethe country up one spot in the top 20 for overall happiness.

Denmark, meanwhile, is the world's happiest country for those aged 60 and older, followed byFinland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, Australiaand the U.S.

"In the West, the received wisdom was that the young are the happiest and that happiness thereafter declines until middle age, followed by substantial recovery," the authors said. However, they said happiness has "fallen sharply" in North America to a point where it's the other way around.

In contrast, the report said the young in Central and Eastern Europe are "much happier than the old." In Western Europe, as a whole, happiness is similar at all ages, it said.

Life expectancy higher in Scandinavian countries

"So wealth is one thing, but then there'salso a healthy life expectancy, which is also very high in Scandinavian countries, whereas in other wealthycountries, like the United States, life expectancy is actually going down for certain segmentsof the population," Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, a University of Oxford economics professor and one of the report's editors, told CBC News.

"And then, finally, something whereScandinavian countries really stand out, we find, is in terms of the social fabric,thesocial capital of their society. Sopeople trust each other, they trust the institutions, there'ssocial support available forthem, both institutionally and personally, and we find that is less the case in other societies," he said.

The report said older age is associated with higher life satisfaction in India, "refuting some claims that the positive association between age and life satisfaction only exists in higher-income nations."However, it said older women in India report lower life satisfaction than older men.

The age gap in wellbeing is starkest in the United States, and also wide in Canada and Japan, and to a decreasing extent in France, Germany and Britain, which all lost ground in this year's rankings.

De Neve said a range of factors islikely lowering young people'shappiness, including increased polarization over social issues, negative aspects of social mediaand economic inequality that makeit harder for young people to afford their own homes than in the past.