The United States falls to a record low in the World Happiness Report

The new World Happiness Report reports that the Nordic countries continue to dominate its rankings. It also highlights that the happiness index of the United States, the world's first economic power, is in full decline.

Finland has been named the happiest country of the year 2025. Despite its common border with Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine since 2022, as well as its winters with little natural light, the Nordic country ranks high for the eighth consecutive year.

As last year, Finland is followed by its Nordic neighbors in the ranking, namely Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.

According to the study, political polarization in the United States has a significant impact on its citizens. The country is now in 24th place in the ranking.

The nation is therefore continuing its decline since it held the 11th place over a decade ago. Mark Williamson, CEO of the British NGO Action for Happiness, claims that the cost of living crisis, economic uncertainty, and significant increase in anxiety among Americans can also play a role in their decline in happiness.

At the bottom of the happiness scale is once again Afghanistan (147th place), a country controlled by the Taliban. Since their return to power in August 2021, following the withdrawal of American forces, this fundamentalist Islamist group has made life particularly difficult for women. It limits their access to education and work, among other things.

Afghanistan is preceded by Sierra Leone (ranked 146th). This nation is facing serious human rights violations.

The third most unhappy country is Lebanon. Indeed, its persistent economic crisis and the armed conflict between Hezbollah (Shiite politico-military group based in Lebanon) and Israel earned it 145th place in the ranking.

The 2025 Global Happiness Report ranks 147 countries and regions based on the self-evaluations of their inhabitants. The University of Oxford conducted the survey in partnership with the Gallup analysis institute and the United Nations.

The report highlights that the «feeling of financial insecurity and loneliness felt by Americans and Europeans, two symptoms of a weakened social fabric», could explain the decline in happiness in Western democracies, and this, despite their GDP constantly rising since the mid-2000s.

The loss of social trust in the West could largely explain the rise of populism and anti-system votes. According to the study, the election of Donald Trump in the United States or Brexit in the United Kingdom (ranked 20th) are manifestations of this trend.

Moreover, loneliness seems to be a growing problem within Western populations. For example, the report highlights that an increasing number of Americans are eating alone. In fact, a quarter of them stated that they had eaten all their meals alone the previous day, which represents a 53% increase compared to 2003.

In the United States, young adults are the hardest hit by this loneliness and are the least happy age group. This phenomenon is also affecting the rest of the world: in 2023, nearly one in five young adults reported having no social support.

The report promoted the increase in confidence and kindness towards others as a solution for a happier society. According to the study, people are actually twice as kind as we imagine. For example: lost wallets have been returned twice as often as the surveyed people thought!