The United States this year fell to its lowest-ever place on the World Happiness Report, an annual survey released on International Day of Happiness that highlights the positive effects benevolence and social connections have on people’s life satisfaction.
Finland remained the happiest nation for the eighth year in a row, while Mexico and Costa Rico ranked among the top 10 for the first time since the report was first published in 2012.
This year’s report, released by Gallup and its partners, ranks 147 countries by their happiness levels — based on a population’s average assessment of their quality of life from 2022 to 2024.
Researchers found that the belief in the kindness of others, as well as actively caring about and sharing with others, has strong effects on happiness, according to the report.
“Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back,” Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup, said in a statement.
U.S. ranks 24th, its lowest ranking
The U.S. ranked 24th in the world, one place lower than its 2024 ranking. America previously peaked at 11th place in 2012.
One factor highlighted in the report was the increasing number of people who eat alone.
“In 2023, roughly 1 in 4 Americans reported eating all of their meals alone the previous day — an increase of 53% since 2003,” the report said. “Dining alone has become more prevalent for every age group, but especially for young people.”
Data reviewed for the report indicates major differences in the rates of meal-sharing around the world, with sharing meals having a positive effect on wellbeing.
Another factor contributing to America’s drop in the rankings, as well as the rankings of some European countries, was “the rise in political polarization and votes against ‘the system,’” the report said.
“The country-wide evolution of happiness and trust is highly associated with the rise in the likelihood of voting for anti-system parties in Western Europe and the United States,” the authors wrote.
Mexico, Costa Rica enter the top 10 for first time
A key reason for the rise in Mexico and Costa Rica’s rankings appeared to be family household size.
“Latin American societies, characterized by larger household sizes and strong family bonds, offer valuable lessons for other societies that seek higher and sustainable wellbeing,” the report said.
The report compared Mexico to European countries, explaining that even though it is poorer, “larger households imply a potential advantage to build positive social interactions within the household, which could partially counterbalance the differences in income with Europe.”
In Europe, 23% of households were single-person, while in Mexico, only 11% were single-person, according to data cited in the report.
“In both Mexico and Europe, the highest average life satisfaction is reported by people who live in households with four to five members,” the authors wrote. “We also observe an inverted U-shaped relationship. Average life satisfaction is lower for people in single-person households as well as households with six or seven members.”
Dropped wallet experiment
The Gallup World Poll asked people in 2019 if they thought others would return a lost wallet, and found that “people are much too pessimistic about the benevolence of others.”
“When wallets were dropped in the street by researchers, the proportion of returned wallets was far higher than people expected,” the report said.
The belief that others would return the lost wallets also contributed to a country’s ranking.
The Nordic nations, including Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, ranked in the top 10 countries and were among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the report said.
“The wallet data are so convincing because they confirm that people are much happier living where they think people care about each other,” John F. Helliwell, an economist at the University of British Columbia and a founding editor of the World Happiness Report, said in a statement.
Additionally, the researchers found that globally, benevolent acts were 10% more frequent in 2024 than in 2017-2019.
List of top 20 happiest nations
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Netherlands
- Costa Rica
- Norway
- Israel
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Ireland
- Lithuania
- Austria
- Canada
- Slovenia
- Czechia, or the Czech Republic
Nicole Brown Chau is a deputy managing editor for CBSNews.com. She has previously reported on local New York City news, politics and crime.
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