The Gallup World Poll just released its latest 2024 global ranking of happiness levels in countries around the world, and in the United States happiness is trending down. In fact, the U.S. dropped out of the top 20 happiest countries for the first time since the polling began in 2012.
Based on what factors? The poll asks respondents to think of a ladder to rate their feelings on a 1-10 basis with 10 being the highest level of general happiness and one being the worst. Wellness organizations usually think such feelings are related to health and healthcare, household income, employment status, standard of living, levels of stress, social life, education, neighbor relations and mental health.
One finding of the poll is that a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) does not necessarily correlate with happiness, according to the chief editor of the report. Another is that “happiness can change, and does change, according to the quality of the society in which people live.”
The purpose of the report, according to Gallup, is to let national leaders know how their people are feeling and to guide policy that will help to remedy failing happiness factors.
The cohort that had the biggest effect on the U.S. drop is the under-30 demographic. In this cohort the U.S. dropped to 62nd place That’s behind nations like Saudi Arabia and Guatemala. The editor of the report said that the U.S. decline was “quite astonishing,” and that the well-being of young Americans had “fallen off a cliff.”
So who’s the happiest? Look to the Nordic nations. The top 10 starting with the happiest are as follows: Finland, Denmark, Iceland; Sweden, Israel (polled before the war), Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia. Rounding out the top 20 are New Zealand, Costa Rica, Kuwait, Austria, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, Czech Republic, Lithuania and the United Kingdom.
The United States ranked 23rd, pulled down largely because of our nation’s unhappy youth. Who is happiest in the U.S.? Well-to-do seniors, 60 and over.
Afghanistan ranked at the bottom.
The obvious looming question is, what could the causes be of America’s disappointingly high level of unhappiness, especially among the young. One place to look is at the poverty level in the U.S. compared with the 26 countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), arguably some of the wealthiest nations in the world. The lowest poverty rate is Iceland, 5.4%. The average poverty rate for the 10 nations with the lowest poverty is 8.1%. The average for the top 25 nations is 10.7%. At 26th, the U.S. has the highest rate of poverty, 17.8%, with the implication that the U.S. has not done well in confronting the unhappy consequences of poverty.
These statistics can be surprising since most of us are regularly rhetorically reminded that we are the wealthiest nation in the world. While on a per-capita basis it’s probably true, the other side of America’s circumstance is a yawning wealth gap between the richest and poorest of Americans.
Digging deeper into the unhappiness of young Americans leads me to think of two other pain points. The first is our youth’s obsession with social media. True, social media infects other nations too, but of the largest nations in the world, the U.S. has the highest per capita number of phones and few usage controls. Unsurprisingly, that same level of usage obsession is not as pervasive among American seniors (60-plus), who poll significantly happier.
Another thought relates to jobs and education. The job market has shifted. High-tech, high-touch employment requires levels of education and training that have become increasingly expensive. Other high-ranking OECD nations are much more likely to cover expenses associated with higher education and trades training than we do in the U.S., making access and affordability less stressful in the rising generation’s quest for career employment success.
Domestic polling is showing that GenZ and Millennials (20s and 30s) are profoundly troubled and even exhausted by the state of American politics (65%), to the extent that they are frequently angry (55%) and worried about the future of their country. Only 10% say they are hopeful about politics and only 4% say they are excited about politics. That should be a wakeup call to parents who get visibly apoplectic in their politics, to our nation’s leaders, and to political parties that offer up extreme, anxiety-producing candidates in state and federal elections.
Finally, and this relates once again to social media and the rapid progression of artificial intelligence. Misinformation and disinformation is not only muddling minds, but also stressful. If today’s circumstance is our baseline for disinformation, then artificial intelligence will put the exponential power of lying into the hands of anyone who can speak or type. We live today in a world of conspiracies in which we are increasingly taught to trust no one or anything.
Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s new AI chief, underlined this point recently when he said, “We’re going to live in a world in which we don’t know what’s real.” For many of us, both younger and older, this brings to mind a depressing world of cynicism and stress. Is that what we really want?
Nordic nations by and large make sure that their residents have access to good healthcare, the cost of childcare, free public education, precollegiate and to a large extent trades training. Europe’s Open Society Institute tracks media literacy and how successful different nations are in terms of “measuring resilience to the post-truth phenomenon,” and in providing education programs that teach students how to recognize fake news. Among the best according to the institute’s “Media Literacy Index” are these same Nordic nations with high-happiness indices.
For me, none of these facts are particularly surprising; yet, what is surprising is that we as a nation seem strangely apathetic when it comes to solving for these threats to the mental well being of our rising citizens, especially those on the lower economic rungs of our society. Staring reality in the face and remaining indifferent is a formula for failing nations.
If given truth, honesty prevails. If given healthcare, education and opportunity, well being prevails. If well being prevails, happiness prevails and nations succeed.
Bill Sims is a Hillsboro resident, retired president of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, an author and runs a small farm in Berrysville with his wife. He is a former educator, executive and foundation president.
