The United States has recorded its lowest happiness ranking in the history of the World Happiness Report, falling to 24th place. This decline is attributed in part to a significant increase in the number of Americans eating their meals alone, according to the annual report released Thursday by the United Nations.
For the eighth consecutive year, Finland has been celebrated as the world’s happiest country, with locals attributing their joy to the nation’s stunning lakes and robust welfare system. Experts agree that these factors contribute significantly to the overall well-being of Finnish residents.
In stark contrast, Afghanistan remains the unhappiest nation globally, grappling with a humanitarian crisis since the Taliban regained power in 2020.
The U.S. ranking marks a significant drop from its peak position of 11th in 2012. The report highlights a troubling trend: the number of Americans dining alone has surged by 53 percent over the past two decades, with approximately one in four Americans reporting they ate all their meals alone the previous day. The authors of the report emphasized that sharing meals is closely linked to overall well-being, suggesting that the rise in solitary dining may be a contributing factor to the nation’s declining happiness.
“The increasing number of people who eat alone is one reason for declining well-being in the United States,” the report stated. Additionally, the U.S. stands out as one of the few countries experiencing a rise in “deaths of despair,” linked to suicide and substance abuse, even as these fatalities decrease in many other nations.
The report is based on a survey conducted between 2022 and 2024, prior to the recent political shifts following former President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Nordic nations continue to dominate the happiness rankings, with Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden rounding out the top four alongside Finland. Costa Rica and Mexico made notable entries into the top ten for the first time, securing the sixth and tenth positions, respectively.
The happiness rankings are derived from a three-year average of individuals’ self-assessments of life satisfaction, incorporating factors such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and levels of corruption.
As the United States grapples with these sobering statistics, the findings from the World Happiness Report serve as a clarion call for addressing the issues of social isolation and mental health, which are increasingly impacting the fabric of American life.
