The US ranks only 19th in the United Nations’ latest World Happiness Report, sliding one place since 2018’s edition. Released Wednesday, the world’s largest economy lags behind countries including Sweden, Costa Rica and the U.K.
Noting a “sudden decline” in happiness among young people in 2012, psychologist Jean Twenge suggested the growing role of digital media in leisure time may be linked to the downward trend.
Published annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the survey ranks 156 countries by certain economic, social, civil and health factors. Finland took the top spot this year for the second time in a row. Countries with the lowest scores included Yemen (151th), Afghanistan (154th) and South Sudan (156th).
Produced since 2012, certain Nordic and western European countries have persistently bested the U.S. The country ranked 15th in the 2015 report, 13th in 2016, 14th in the 2017 report (which included 155 countries) and 18th in 2018.
The national rankings are based on citizens’ perceptions of their own happiness. Survey respondents in each country are asked to picture a ladder representing the worst possible version of their life (0) to the best (10). Participants then score how they feel about their real life according to the ladder.
Experts use six variables—GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption—to try and explain variations in answers across different countries.
As well as the standard happiness rankings, this year’s report includes chapters focused on the theme of happiness and community. The report devoted an entire chapter to “the sad state of happiness in the U.S.”
With a low violent crime rate, low unemployment and increasing income per capita, Americans should be happy, San Diego State University professor Twenge wrote in the chapter. But paradoxically, happiness and well-being have fallen in recent years.
Homing in on adolescents, Twenge suggested the encroachment of screen time on other leisure activities was a “credible explanation” for their decline in happiness. This “fundamental shift” has seen young people forgo in-person socialization, book-reading, attendance at religious services and sleep.
General happiness in adolescents has declined alongside this shift in behavior, Twenge reported. “In short, adolescents who spend more time on electronic devices are less happy, and adolescents who spend more time on most other activities are happier,” she wrote. But most evidence on the topic shows correlation, she cautioned, and does not prove a causal link.
