International Day of Happiness: What makes people happy? Factors that make people feel good

The latest edition of the World Happiness Report was published just in time for the International Day of Happiness 2024. The 12th edition focuses on the happiness of people at different stages of life.

Comparing data collected over the past few years has shown “a more nuanced picture” than the one commonly imagined in which “the young are the happiest and that happiness thereafter declines until middle age, followed by substantial recovery.”

While there are variations across different regions of the globe, most strikingly in the 2024 World Happiness Report was the sharp decrease in youth happiness in North America. But even at a global level, compared to data from the early years of the report, happiness is now lower among people born since 1980.

What makes people happy? Factors that make people feel good

The United States dropped eight places from 15th in the last World Happiness Report to 23rd, the first time it has not ranked in the top 20. This was “driven by a large drop in the wellbeing of Americans under 30,” according to Gallup whose data powers the World Happiness Report.

An editor of the report, Lara Aknin, told Axios that this is in part a result of feeling less supported by friends and family. The World Happiness Report noted that “both social support and loneliness affect happiness, with social support usually having the larger effect.”

Last year, the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned about the threat to Americans’ health and well-being that loneliness presented. The pandemic “exacerbated the loneliness that’s been building for decades,” he said. Especially younger Americans who have seen “about a 50% decline in the amount of face time young people have with other people” within the last 20 years.

In order to reduce the malevolent effects of this, the report says that “social interactions add to happiness, with their effects flowing through increases in social support and reductions in loneliness.”

Also, happier people tend to help others according to the 2024 World Happiness Report. Here younger generations out shine their elders. While increases in benevolence after the pandemic compared to before are large for all generations, they are “especially so for the Millennials and Generation Z, who are even more likely than their predecessors to help others in need.”

What are the happiest countries in 2024?

Finland took home the top spot yet again in the 2024. This is the seventh year it has been ‘Number One’ in the World Happiness Report. All of the top ten had an average life evaluation above 7 out of 10. However, none exceeded an 8. Finland came in with a 7.741 average.

At the opposite end of the list of are Afghanistan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Congo, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Eswatini and Zambia, all averaging less than 4 on the scale of 10.

What is the World Happiness Report?

The report is produced using six factors social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption. Researchers rank residents’ life evaluations based on a three-year average. The data is provided through self-reporting to the Gallup World Poll, which “measures life satisfaction ratings and emotional wellbeing and captures the important context that GDP does not explain.”

The 12th edition focuses on the happiness of people at different stages of life. For the first time, the report gives separate rankings by age group, in many cases varying widely from the overall rankings.

The annual analysis can be used by governments, business and civil society to orient public and private policies to promote happiness.

Since 2012, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network has been releasing the World Happiness Report. As of this year, it is now a publication of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The latest edition was developed in partnership with Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR’s Editorial Board.