Where is the happiest country in the world? For the ninth consecutive year, Finland found itself at the top of the annual ranking of 147 countries compiled by the World Happiness Report, from the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre.
Nordic countries maintained their typical dominance of the upper echelons of the list, which was published on Friday, with Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica, Sweden and Norway completing the top six. The fourth-place ranking for Costa Rica is the best ever achieved by a Latin American country.
Meanwhile France placed 35th – its lowest ever ranking and a fall of two places in the past 12 months.
The report, which was compiled in partnership with global analytics firm Gallup and the UN, is published each year on the first day of spring and has become an indispensable resource for addressing the growing global interest in incorporating happiness – or well-being – into public policy.
As well as giving country rankings, it also provides insights into global wellbeing trends which, this year, came with a warning: Social media is taking a significant toll on the happiness of young people in the West.
The authors concluded, “if social media platforms did not exist, many users would be better off”.
Cyberbullying, sextortion, depression
The harms caused by social media to young users are “diverse and vast in scope”, the report found, ranging from “overwhelming evidence of severe and widespread” direct harm such as cyberbullying and sextortion, to “compelling evidence” of indirect harm such as depression.
This years’ report comes as more and more governments around the world are introducing laws to reduce social media use in a bid to protect younger users.
Read moreFrench lawmakers advance measure that would ban social media for under-15s
Researchers for the report compile data on happiness by asking around 100,000 participants from each country to rank where they stand on a scale of zero to 10, with zero being the worst possible version of their life and 10 being the best.
Responses are collected throughout the year, taking into account factors such as religious observances, weather patterns, pandemics and war.
The survey results give an overall score: for example this year, French participants came out with an average 6.586 compared with 7.764 for their Finnish counterparts.
The scores are then filtered through six measurable indicators with “demonstrable links to subjective well-being, and more specifically to life satisfaction”. These include: having someone to count on, GDP per capita, a healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption.
Some trends come as no surprise. In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has made life particularly difficult for women there, who have an average wellbeing score of just 1.26.
Afghanistan is the bottom country on this year’s list, and is joined at the lower end largely by nations experiencing major political and social difficulties, including Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Yemen, Lebanon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Youth happiness crisis
Other results are less expected. Despite happiness levels increasing in central and eastern Europe – part of a convergence in European happiness levels that has been clear for more than a decade – the report found that most industrialised Western countries are now less happy than they were during a base period between 2005 and 2010.
The data also shows a sharp decline in life satisfaction among people under 25 over the past decade, particularly in English-speaking countries and Western Europe.
This “youth happiness crisis” was first mentioned in the 2024 World Happiness Report, but the 2026 edition highlights the specific link between social media use and decreased wellbeing among young people in the West.
“In North America and Western Europe, young people are much less happy than 15 years ago. Over the same period, social media use has greatly increased,” it noted.
What puts western youth at higher risk than their counterparts in other parts of the world is the amount of time they spent on social media platforms.
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Citing an OECD study, the report found that “those who use social media for over seven hours a day have much lower wellbeing than those who use it for less than one hour”.
It found heavy use of social media caused a wellbeing drop of almost a full point for girls in Western Europe and half a point for boys.
“Heavy users of social media are at risk, especially in English-speaking countries and Western Europe,” the authors wrote.
'Thoughtful regulation'
It seems that many young people are aware of the harm such platforms can cause. According to a Harris poll cited in the report, more than a third of users aged 18-27 wished that platforms including X, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram did not exist at all.
Social media companies are also aware that young people see their products as dangerous, with Gen Z users – born between 1997 and 2012 – perceiving “high levels of harm”, the report found.
In fact, the scale and scope of negative impacts is impossible to ignore. They are so widespread that the report warned social media is causing “harm at a population level”.
But a blanket ban might not be possible – or even advisable. While intensive social media use is associated with negative impacts, “those who voluntarily disconnect also seem to miss out on certain positive effects,” says report author Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, in a press release.
Instead the report calls for “thoughtful regulation of social media environments” that could “play a role in mitigating harmful effects”.
It expects teachers, parents and school administrators are likely to back the idea.
“The belief that social media and smartphones are harming students’ education and mental health is not isolated or fringe. It is the dominant perception among educators across many Western nations,” the report found.
This article was adapted by Joanna York. Click here to read the original in French.
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