 "The United States fell to its lowest happiness ranking ever partly due to a rise in the number of Americans eating their meals alone, revealed the World Happiness Report. Representational image/AFP")
‘If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands’, is the famous children’s song we all know. However, the chances are very high that if one sang this melody right now in the US, many Americans wouldn’t be clapping, as they are not happy.
In fact, if one went by the World Happiness Report , the US’ happiness quotient has sunk, earning it the 24th rank — its lowest-ever place since 2012 when the report started being published.
But what’s causing America down in the dumps? Here’s what the World Happiness Report reveals.
US’ sinking happiness quotient
On the occasion of World Happiness Day, the World Happiness Report was released and the news wasn’t good for America.
The US sunk to a new low in the index, securing the 24th position out of 147 countries. This is one spot lower than last year when it likewise broke a new record low. Incidentally, 2024 was also the first year the US didn’t rank among the world’s 20 happiest countries since the report launched 12 years ago.
The US’ highest ranking on the World Happiness Report has been 15, which it received in 2023.
Reasons for America’s happiness decline
According to the report, one of the primary reasons for America frowning is eating meals alone. The report saw that in the US there’s a high preference to eat alone — in 2023, roughly one in four Americans reported eating all of their meals alone – an increase of 53 per cent since 2003. Dining alone has become more prevalent for every age group, but especially for young people.
But what’s behind the lonely meals and what does it have to do with happiness? The report states that the foremost reason for this is because of the rise in living alone. It is well-documented that Americans have become increasingly likely to live by themselves. Other reasons that America is dining alone are because of decline in family size, delays in marriage and parenthood, and increased economic opportunity for women.
Economic factors may also contribute to the rise in lonely meals. Dining out with friends at restaurants has become a luxury for many as inflation has eaten into household budgets, forcing them to cut back on discretionary spending.
Researchers behind the report said that while most people don’t associate dining habits with happiness, they found that shared meals are actually as strong an indicator of people’s perceived well-being as income and unemployment. In fact, the ranking’s authors wrote, “asking people if they shared at least one meal last week can tell us more about their overall life evaluation than knowing if they are unemployed.”
But eating alone isn’t the only reason that’s causing America to be frowning instead of laughing. The report found that ‘deaths of despair’ — fatalities from suicide or substance misuse — are relatively high in America. The report revealed that the US had the highest number of deaths of despair, only preceded by Slovenia and Guyana.
The other reasons that have affected America’s happiness quotient are factors such as freedom, where it ranked as low as 115. Perception of corruption is also one of the criteria in which America scored low — 37.
Another factor contributing to America’s drop in the rankings is “the rise in political polarisation and votes against ‘the system’,” the report said.
Other countries’ pursuit of happiness
While the US saw a dip in its happiness rankings, Finland continued to enjoy the top spot for a straight eighth year. Frank Martela, an assistant professor specialised in well-being and happiness research at Aalto University, told AFP: “It seems that Finnish people are relatively satisfied with their lives.
“Democracy is functioning well, we have free elections, free speech, low levels of corruption and all of these have shown to predict higher levels of national well-being.” The extensive natural landscape could also be another reason why the Nordic country continues to top the World Happiness Report.
Other nations to round out the top 10 of happiest countries are: Denmark (rank 2), Iceland (rank 3), Sweden (rank 4), the Netherlands at 5, Costa Rica (six), Norway (seven), Israel (eight), Luxembourg (nine) and Mexico (10).
Canada , which is right now squabbling with the US, also secured a rank of 18, six positions higher than Washington.
This is the first time that Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 rankings, with the report saying, “Latin American societies, characterised by larger household sizes and strong family bonds, offer valuable lessons for other societies that seek higher and sustainable wellbeing.”
The report compared Mexico to European countries, explaining that even though it is poorer, “larger households imply a potential advantage to build positive social interactions within the household, which could partially counterbalance the differences in income with Europe.”
Meanwhile, Afghanistan (No 147) found itself once again last on the list. Sierra Leone (146), Lebanon (145), Malawi (144) and Zimbabwe (143) make up the rest of the bottom five for happiness.
With inputs from agencies