Finland named the world’s happiest country (again) in 2024 but young people in Europe are struggling

Finland has been topped the world’s happiest nation for a seventh successive yr within the newly-released World Happiness Report.

Compiled through the use of information from greater than 140 international locations, the report is revealed yearly by Gallup, the United Nations, and the College of Oxford.

For the primary time, the 2024 World Happiness Report has provided empirical information primarily based on age, exhibiting a worrying divergence in how pleased younger individuals are globally in comparison with older generations.

Total, European international locations dominated the rankings; specifically, the Nordic countries Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway all retained spots within the high 10.

How do you measure happiness?

The annual World Happiness Report rankings are largely primarily based on subjective life evaluations compiled over the previous three years from the Gallup World Ballot in cooperation with the College of Oxford’s Wellbeing Analysis Centre and the UN Sustainable Growth Options Community.

Whereas the rankings themselves are primarily based solely on the solutions individuals give when requested to price their very own lives, interdisciplinary consultants from the fields of economics, psychology, and sociology are then known as in to crunch the information and make evaluations primarily based on six key variables.

The variables the report quantifies are earnings (GDP per capita), wholesome life expectancy, social assist, freedom to make life decisions, generosity, and freedom from corruption.

Younger individuals are extra sad than ever

For the primary time, the report has drilled down into the information to offer insights into ranges of happiness by age group.

This confirmed a wildly completely different image in comparison with the official rankings, with Lithuania (19 within the general rankings) popping out high because the happiest nation on this planet for younger youngsters and folks below 30, whereas Denmark (second general) was the happiest place to be for older individuals over 60.

This yr’s report did, nonetheless, spotlight a rising disparity in well-being between ages relying on their geographical location.

Researchers discovered that, globally, younger individuals aged 15 to 24 reported larger life satisfaction than adults aged 25 and older. Nevertheless, there have been important dips highlighted in Western Europe and North America, in addition to the Center East, North Africa, and South Asia “as a result of unfavourable developments for younger individuals”.

“Piecing collectively the obtainable information on the well-being of youngsters and adolescents world wide, we documented disconcerting drops particularly in North America and Western Europe,” Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford’s Nicely-being Analysis Centre and an editor of the World Happiness Report, stated.

“To assume that, in some components of the world, youngsters are already experiencing the equal of a mid-life disaster calls for fast coverage motion”.

Conversely, in the remainder of world, happiness ranges for younger individuals and adolescents had largely risen although, usually talking, older individuals have been a lot happier general.

When evaluating generations, these born earlier than 1965 are, on common, happier than these born since 1980.

Whereas for Boomers, life satisfaction was seen to extend with age, for Millennials, the analysis of their happiness dropped with every year of age, the report confirmed.

“We discovered some fairly placing outcomes. There’s a nice selection amongst international locations within the relative happiness of the youthful, older, and in-between populations,” John F Helliwell, an emeritus professor of economics on the College of British Columbia and a founding editor of the World Happiness Report, stated in an announcement.

“Therefore the worldwide happiness rankings are fairly completely different for the younger and the previous, to an extent that has modified quite a bit during the last dozen years”.

Which international locations have been within the backside 10?

Trying on the backside 10 first, Afghanistan stays the world’s unhappiest nation in a largely unchanged rating.

134. Zambia

135. Eswatini

136. Malawi

137. Botswana

138. Zimbabwe

139. Congo

140. Sierra Leone

141. Lesotho

142. Lebanon

143. Afghanistan

Which international locations have been within the high 10?

Total, this yr’s high 10 rankings additionally stay largely unchanged, particularly the highest three. Nevertheless, second place Denmark has managed to shut the hole with Finland.

1. Finland

2. Denmark

3. Iceland

4. Sweden

5. Israel

6. Netherlands

7. Norway

8. Luxembourg

9. Switzerland

10. Australia

What are the important thing takeaways?

Whereas the highest 10 stay tight-knit on scores and largely unchanged in positioning, the extra attention-grabbing strikes seem within the high 20.

New entrants embody Costa Rica and Kuwait at positions 12 and 13 respectively, whereas the US and Germany have been each dislodged from fifteenth and sixteenth spots, dropping to 23 and 24 this yr.

That is the primary time the US has fallen out of the highest 20 for the reason that World Happiness Report was first revealed, pushed largely by a major drop within the well-being of People below 30, the report’s authors famous.

Additionally noticeable this yr was the narrowing of happiness ranges between Western and Jap Europe, with international locations like Czechia (18) and Lithuania (19) retaining their spots within the high 20, with Slovenia now in twenty first place.

Curiously, not one of the world’s largest international locations featured within the high 20, with solely two international locations within the high 10 – the Netherlands and Australia – having inhabitants sizes exceeding 15 million.

As with earlier years, 2023 was marked by seismic geopolitical occasions. Their affect on happiness gauges largely is dependent upon when these occasions occurred in relation to when the survey was carried out. Rankings are additionally primarily based on a three-year common of the information compiled.

Subsequently, occasions just like the Hamas assaults on Israeli kibbutzim on October 7 and the following battle in Gaza would have gone largely unregistered, which explains why Israel (which positioned fourth final yr) stays excessive within the rankings in fifth place.