US falls to lowest ever happiness rating in annual report: Here's why
FILE - Retirees raise a happy smile as they perform the famously British dance of comedians Morcambe and Wise next to a statue of Eric Morcambe, at Morcambe Bayon June 22, 2006, in Morcambe, England. The World Happiness Report 2025 rankings are in. (
The United States dropped to its lowest ever ranking on this year’s World Happiness Report, an annual survey of how people rate their own lives across the globe.
The 2025 World Happiness Report, released Thursday, found that belief in the kindness of others is a top factor in happiness – and one solid indicator is believing that other people will return a lost wallet.
"Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back," said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. "If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other."
Where does the U.S. rank in the 2025 World Happiness Report?
By the numbers:
The U.S. has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. That’s one spot below the United Kingdom, at position 23, which reported its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report.
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According to the report, declining happiness and social trust in the U.S. and parts of Europe could explain the rise of polarizing politics and "anti-system votes."
The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.
What is the happiest country on Earth?
Big picture view:
Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row.
Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.
What they're saying:
Jouni Purhonen, a Helsinki resident, said one reason is that Finns are "really calm."
"So we have the time to think about things like live our life really peacefully and I guess easily, if you will," Purhonen said.
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While European countries dominate the top 20 in the ranking, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel came in at eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at sixth and 10th respectively.
What is the unhappiest country on Earth?
Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult.
Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking third from the bottom.
In a concerning development, the study said that 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006.
What makes people happy?
Dig deeper:
Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said.
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Believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings.
As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population.
Nordic nations rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found.
Overall, researchers said that global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality — actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect.
What is the World Happiness Report?
The backstory:
The annual report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. It’s done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
All countries are ranked according to their self-assessed life evaluations averaged over 2022 to 2024.
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Experts in economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as gross domestic product per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press and the World Happiness Report 2025.