The US is unhappier than ever before, according to a major new report.
The World Happiness Report, published by the United Nations, shows that the US fell eight places this year from 15th to 23rd.
This was the lowest ranking since the report – which covers 140 countries – was first launched in 2012 and well below the record high of 11th.
Among those in their 30s, the US ranked 62nd in terms of happiness – below post-Soviet countries such as Serbia (3rd) and Latvia (31st) and even southern neighbors Mexico (22nd) and Guatemala (49th).
The results mean that America’s 331 million people are now considered less happy than those living in post-Soviet countries such as the Czech Republic and even Israel – despite the country currently waging war in Gaza.
They are also considered unhappier than those in like-minded European countries, including Britain and Belgium. Finland was ranked as the happiest country for the seventh year in a row.
The chart above shows how happiness rankings in the US, UK and Australia have shifted over time
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According to the report, the dip in the US – which dropped the country from the top 20 happiest countries for the first time – was caused by a decline in well-being among people in their thirties.
Previous studies have shown that this generation is much lonelier than its peers, which is linked to a host of health problems, including higher rates of depression and anxiety.
Across the world, the report found that people born before 1965 were much happier worldwide than those born since 1980.
It was observed that the happiness of millennials decreased every year. In contrast, boomers’ life satisfaction has increased with age.
The US ranks 62nd in happiness among young people. Among the elderly – defined as those over 60 – it came in tenth place.
It scored 42nd for younger middle-aged people and 17th for older middle-aged people.
Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row, according to an annual UN-sponsored index. In the photo: Helsinki
Afghanistan was the unhappiest country (score 1.72) of the 143 countries that took part in the UN-backed survey. In the photo: Kabul
By comparison, Britain ranked 32nd for young people, 27th for younger middle-aged people, 19th for older middle-aged people and 20th for older people.
Lithuania (19th overall) has the happiest younger people in the global rankings, while Denmark’s (second overall) old people were the happiest in the world.
Experts say the data shows a worrying trend among young people in Western Europe and North America who are experiencing the equivalent of a ‘midlife crisis’.
Dr. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, professor of economics at the Said Business School in Great Britain, said: ‘The World Happiness Report once again reveals a number of extraordinary empirical insights at the cutting edge of well-being research.
‘By pooling available data on the well-being of children and adolescents around the world, we have documented worrying declines, especially in North America and Western Europe.
“To think that children in some parts of the world are already experiencing the equivalent of a midlife crisis requires immediate policy action.”
The report asked people in 140 countries to rate how happy they were on a scale of one to ten, with ten being very happy and zero being very unhappy.
The results were based on three years of data from people saying how happy they were.
Data showed that overall, Finland was the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row – with a score of 7.7 out of ten.
The Scandinavian countries Denmark, Iceland and Sweden took second, third and fourth places – with scores of 7.6, 7.5 and 7.3.
Only two of the ten happiest countries – Israel (7.3) and Australia (7.1) – were not in Europe.
Other countries that overtook the US happiness score of 6.7 out of ten include Canada, which ranked 15th with a score of 6.9.
Germany was one place lower in 24th place with 6.6 out of ten and Mexico was two places lower in 25th place, also with 6.6 out of ten.
According to the report, autocracies continue to fare much worse, with China ranking 60th with a happiness score of just 5.9 – although this was a slight increase from 64th last year.
And Russia fell two places to 72nd with a score of 5.8 out of ten during the war in Ukraine.
War-scarred Afghanistan and Lebanon remained the two unhappiest countries in the world with a score of 1.72 and 2.70 respectively.
The third unluckiest was the landlocked African country of Lesotho with 3.18 hours.
In 46 out of 140 countries – or 32 percent – a greater share of the total population was rated as unhappy than happy.