US drops out of top 20 happiest nations – report

The downgrade is attributed to a steep drop in the sense of wellbeing among Americans under 30

Mounting gloominess among younger people has seen the US tumble down a global wellbeing index, according to the World Happiness Report released on Wednesday. For the first time in the ranking’s 12-year history, the country did not feature among the 20 happiest nations.

The US dropped from 15th to the 23rd overall, but was ranked 62nd when just the views of people under 30 were taken into account. Meanwhile, the happiness of those aged 60 and over would place the nation 10th.

When it comes to the top of the list, Finland was ranked number one for the seventh year in a row. Lithuania was the world’s happiest nation, according to the views of those under the age of 30. Denmark is the happiest for people over 60.

Out of the 143 countries surveyed, Afghanistan and Lebanon remained at the bottom of the ranking, with the latter facing ongoing humanitarian crises since the Taliban took power in 2020, while the former was ranked the second least happy for three years in a row.

The annual World Happiness Report, launched in 2012 in an effort to support the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, is based on data from US market research company Gallup, which is analyzed by a global team currently led by Oxford University.

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Researchers asked people in 143 countries and territories to assess their life on a scale from 0 to 10, before calculating the average scores from the past three years to create a ranking.

The most recent report relies on data that was collected after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with survey respondents answering questions between 2021 and 2023.

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