World Happiness Report 2024 Breakdown
I share top takeaways and answer three key questions...
2024 World Happiness Report focuses on happiness in different stages of life. Here are the major insights and trends…
We see a sharp negative trend for young people in the West. Historically happiness followed a sort of “U” shaped curve. It was high at a young age with gradual declines into middle age followed by a return to higher levels. Since around 2008, happiness amongst the young (aged 15-24) has fallen to where young are now less happy than the old. A similar, albeit less extreme, pattern exists in Western Europe.
Some interesting research has disentangled generational dynamics to find that as a whole, people born after 1980 have a lower level of happiness.
Since 2006 there has been a significant increase in the inequality of happiness in every region except Europe. And it has increased especially for the old. Global happiness inequality has increased by more than 20% over the past 12 years.
Negative emotions are more frequent now than in 2006-2010 everywhere except in East Asia and in Europe. In Central and Eastern Europe, negative emotions are now less frequent in all age groups.
COVID-19 crisis led to a worldwide increase in the proportion of people who have helped others. This increase in altruism has been significant for all generations, but especially so for those born since 1980.
Country Rankings by Life Evaluation 2021-2023
Finland
Denmark
Iceland
Sweden
Israel
Netherlands
Norway
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Australia
New Zealand
Costa Rica
Kuwait
Austria
Canada
***22. UAE
***23. United States
***24. Germany
Congo
Sierra Leone
Lesotho
Lebanon
Afghanistan
Key questions…
What makes people happy?
The scores in this report are based on individuals’ assessments of their lives based primarily on Cantril Ladder life evaluation question. This asks you to imagine a ladder from 1 to 10 where 1 is the worst possible life and 10 is the best possible life — and place yourself on that ladder.
The national average life evaluations are explained in terms of 6 key variables. Together these 6 variables account for more than 3/4 of the variation in national annual average scores across countries and years. The explanatory power of this model has increased over 3 years as more data is added (a sign of the validity of this model).
having someone to count on (social support)
freedom from corruption
freedom to make life choices
GDP per capita
generosity
healthy life expectancy
Why are some happy with less?
You may notice that certain countries seem oddly high given their level of development.
For instance, how is it that Costa Rica with a GDP-per capita (meant to assess economic status per person) of $12,472 is 11 slots ahead of the US with a GDP-per capita of $70,248?
While this report doesn’t give a certain explanation. We can look to the above six variables and consider how cultural values and norms have a greater impact on happiness than purely material wealth. Things like a sense of freedom, trust in public institutions, and above all — a culture of close relationships and social connection are likely the main reasons some get “more from less” with respect to happiness.
As the adage goes: standard of living is not quality of life.
What is driving the youth happiness decline in North America?
While COVID-19 seems to have played a role in diminishing happiness for young people across the globe, there is compelling research to suggest an underlying trend. The deep study of psychologist Jon Haidt suggests a “perfect storm” of a transition from play-based childhood to phone-based childhood.
When adolescents’ social lives moved onto smartphones and social media platforms, anxiety and depression surged. We see this as something occurring in the 2010s that triggered a surge of anxiety and depression around 2012. The sudden increase wasn’t just due to a heightened willingness to talk about mental illness. The rise was showing up in behavior like self-harm and suicide.
Haidt argues the decline of play-based childhood, beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in the 1990s is to blame. All mammals (primates like us) need lots of free play for proper brain development (social/emotional learning). At the same time, we see the rise of the phone-based childhood, which began in the late 2000s and accelerated in the early 2010s. Tech companies deliberately designed their apps and social media products to be addictive. They preyed on the attention of young people with the consequences of damaging cognitive and social development.
Summary
This report continues to be a valuable look into the state of affairs RE world happiness. We see threats to youth mental health in developed western cultures as well as the threat of inequality in the distribution of happiness. We continue to see that happiness is not fixed — it evolves as society evolves — which is both a cautionary observation and a point of optimism that happiness can be increased intentionally as individuals and as societies. Finally we are reminded again that making a good living isn’t the same thing as making a good life.
Your happiness nerd,
Jackson K.