The World Happiness Report 2026, published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, names Finland the happiest country for the ninth consecutive year. Other Nordic nations — Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway — remain in the top 10.
The report highlights a pronounced decline in life evaluations among people under 25 in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand over the past decade. Across English-speaking and Western European countries, the average life-satisfaction score for under-25s fell by nearly one point in ten years. Researchers identify heavy social media use as a key contributor, with teenage girls showing especially steep drops in well-being.
Data show that 15-year-old girls who spend five or more hours a day on social media report lower life satisfaction than peers who use it less. Young people who use social platforms for under an hour daily report the highest well-being — even higher than those who say they do not use social media at all — yet adolescents currently average about 2.5 hours a day on these platforms.
The report points to algorithm-driven feeds, influencer-centered content and visually focused platforms as particularly problematic because they encourage social comparison. By contrast, services that primarily facilitate direct communication are linked with better well-being outcomes. The research also finds regional variation: in some parts of the Middle East and South America, heavy social media use has not been tied to falling youth well-being, indicating local context matters.
Costa Rica climbed to fourth place this year, up from 23rd in 2023. The authors attribute the rise to strong family bonds, social connections and high social capital, which appear to support quality of life and stability, according to Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Wellbeing Research Centre and co-editor of the report.
Northern European countries score highly in part because of wealth combined with relatively equal resource distribution, robust welfare systems that cushion economic shocks, and healthy life expectancy. Countries in or near major conflict zones occupy the lowest ranks; Afghanistan is again the least happy country, followed by Sierra Leone and Malawi.
The rankings are based on roughly 100,000 responses across about 140 countries and territories, gathered in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In most countries roughly 1,000 people are surveyed each year, by phone or face-to-face, and asked to rate their lives on a 0-to-10 scale.
This report marks the second consecutive year with no English-speaking country in the top 10: the United States ranked 23rd, Canada 25th and the United Kingdom 29th. The findings on social media come as policymakers around the world are increasingly considering or implementing measures to limit minors’ access to social platforms.
