Do you feel disappointed? You are not alone, because the United States fell to a record in the world happiness index

Comparison can be the thief of joy, but not if you come Finland.

Despite the sharing of a border with Russia in war And receiving limited winter sunlight, the Nordic nation has been classified in the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year. Americans, on the other hand, seem be more unhappy of each passing year.

It is according to the World Happiness 2025 report, published Thursday, which classifies more than 140 countries and regions on the basis of residents’ self-assessments. The survey was carried out by the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup analysis company And The United Nations.

In the classification of wealthy and destitute happiness, the United States fell to its lowest level of all time at n ° 24, Proclaim From a peak in 11th place over a decade ago. The report described political polarization following the growing despair of Americans.

“The drop in lifetime satisfaction explains the overall increase in anti-system votes, but confidence in others then comes into play,” said the report, with “unhappy people attracted by the extremes of the political spectrum”.

As for what caused the descending spiral in the United States, “the ongoing challenges concerning the cost of living, economic uncertainty and political polarization may have played a role,” said Mark Williamson, CEO of non-profit action based in the United Kingdom for Happiness. “We have also observed a significant increase in anxiety in the population.”

The Nordic neighbors of Finland continued to dominate the top of the classification, with Denmark,, Iceland And Suede Creation of the rest of the first four, as they did last year.

On the other hand, the most unhappy country in the world was again Afghanistanwhere the Taliban continue to make life “particularly difficult” women and girlslimiting them Access to education and employment.

Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa in the grip important human rights violationswas the second least happy country, while Lebanon ranked third at the bottom, with its last year marked by an current economic crisis and War between Hezbollah – The militia supported by Iran based in the country – and Israel.

Despite GDP per capita in the United States and Western Europe, having continuously increased since the mid -2000s, a drop in the happiness of Western democracies “could be attributed to feelings of financial insecurity and loneliness felt by Americans and Europeans – two symptoms of damaged social fabric,” said the report.

The drop in social trust explains a “large share” of the increase in political polarization and anti-system votes illustrated by the election of President Donald Trump in the United States and Brexit in Great Britain. The United Kingdom, for example, has arrived the 20th, marking its lowest reading since 2017.

In a sign of increasing loneliness, more Americans are solo. About 1 in 4 said they had eaten all their meals alone the day before – an increase of 53% since 2003.

In the United States, young adults have reported the lowest happiness and the social bond of all age groups, have said researchers, with the loneliness of young people who are also getting up in the world. In 2023, nearly 1 in 5 young adults said he had no one for social support.

But the report includes some suggestions on how to promote a more happy society: try to have more confidence in others and be harder with them.

The study revealed that foreigners are actually twice as nice that people are waiting for it, with the frequency with which the lost portfolios of people were sent to them the double of the rhythm of which the interviewees thought.

“The most comforting and most important conclusion of this report is that people are much nicer than we think,” said Williamson. “Kindness is affected outside and our expectations about kindness.”