Finland, in number 1, and Afghanistan, in 143, are at the two extremes of the list of the World Happiness Report 2024, which shows that Spain (36th place) has fallen for the fourth consecutive year and that the country most happy of Latin America is Mexico (25th place).
The report, which is based on surveys carried out in 143 countries and whose publication coincides with the International Day of Happiness (March 20), focuses this year for the first time on analyzing happiness at different stages of life.
The authors point out that happiness is traditionally associated with youth and old age is thought of as a less happy stage of life, but current reality refutes these ideas.
“The positive global trend in life satisfaction” among the ages of 15 to 24 ended with the coronavirus pandemic, says the study, the result of a collaboration between Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network of the UN and the Editorial Board of the World Happiness Report (WHR).
From 2006-2010, happiness in the 15- to 24-year-old age group has dropped markedly in North America, “to the point that the young are less happy than the old,” and it has also fallen in that group , although less abruptly, in Western Europe, the report says.
By contrast, happiness at all ages has increased markedly in central and eastern Europe, so that “young people are now equally happy in both parts of Europe.”
The countries of the former Soviet Union and East Asia have also seen large increases in happiness at all ages, while in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, by contrast, it has fallen.
The United States falls for the first time in more than a decade from the ‘top 20’ of the happiest countries in the world, driven, especially, by the drop in the perception of happiness of its young people. The World Happiness Report 2024 places it in 23rd place, while in last year’s edition it was 15th.
The report partly attributes the decline in the US’ positions, like that of Germany (24th place), to the trend towards an increase in the perception of happiness among Eastern European countries. Spain, which in 2021 was in 24th place, in 2022 in 29th and in 2023 in 32nd, moves to 36th in 2024.
The report highlights that, in contrast, there are countries that show significant increases in evaluations and highlights the case of Serbia, in 37th place, and Bulgaria, in 81st, which have climbed, respectively, 69 and 63 positions since the edition. of 2013.
“The ten countries at the top of the list remain practically the same since before the covid pandemic,” the report highlights.
Finland, which has been in the number one spot for seven years, is closely followed by Denmark and then Iceland, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia.
The latter are Afghanistan (143), Lebanon (142), Lesotho (141), Sierra Leone (140), Democratic Republic of Congo (139), Zimbabwe (138), Botswana (137), Malawi (136), and Esuatin (135). ) and Zambia (134).
Among the Latin American countries studied, Mexico (25th place) is the best placed, followed by Uruguay (26th), El Salvador (33rd), Chile (38th), Panama (39th), Guatemala (42nd), Nicaragua (43rd), Brazil (44), Argentina (48), Paraguay (57), Honduras (61), Peru (68), Dominican Republic (69), Bolivia (73), Ecuador (74), Colombia (78) and Venezuela (79).
Russia and Ukraine, facing each other since 2022 in a war with no signs of a solution for now, are in 72nd and 105th place, respectively.
From the comparison between generations made this year, it is deduced that, on average, people born before 1965 – ‘boomers’ and their predecessors – are happier than those born after 1980 – ‘millennials’ and generation Z-.
Speaking specifically of countries, the one with the most satisfied children and young people under 30 years of age is Lithuania and, for those over 60 years of age, Denmark is the happiest country in the world.
