Young Canadians’ happiness plummets in latest global survey, to 58th

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If you’re 60 or older, you’re likely among the happiest Canadians in the country. If you’re under 30, however, it’s a different story.

That’s according to the recently released World Happiness Report, which found that older Canadians are by far the country’s happiest demographic, ranking eighth out of more than 140 countries. Taking into account all ages, Canada placed 15th overall on the ranking, a drop of two spots from last year.

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However, when it comes to young Canadians, their happiness levels ranked 58th overall, among the lowest in the G7.

The U.S. reflected a similar age gap, with those 60 and older ranking as 10th happiest, while those under 30 were 62nd. Overall, the U.S. was ranked the 23rd happiest country, a significant drop from 15th overall last year. It’s also the first time the U.S. has dropped out of the top 20 in the 12-year history of the report.

Finland, for the seventh year in a row, was ranked the happiest country. The report is published annually by Gallup, which undertakes a global happiness measurement survey, and by the United Nations and the University of Oxford.

Respondents are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale. The report correlates the life evaluation results with various factors, including GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.

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The report notes that happiness fell significantly among the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but that decline was twice as much for the young as the old.

“For the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, happiness has decreased in all age groups, but especially for the young, so much so that the young are now, in 2021-2023, the least happy age group,” the report notes. “This is a big change from 2006-2010, when the young were happier than those in the mid-life groups, and about as happy as those aged 60 and over.”

The biggest discrepancies between age groups was in the U.S. and Canada, where the gap is 50 places or more.

It’s not a universal story, though, as many countries, especially those in Central and eastern Europe, show the young ranking much higher in happiness than the old.

“In the West, the received wisdom was that the young are the happiest and that happiness thereafter declines until middle age, followed by substantial recovery,” the report reads. “But since 2006-10 … happiness among the young (aged 15-24) has fallen sharply in North America — to a point where the young are less happy than the old.”

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The top 10 countries, meanwhile, have remained fairly stable. Denmark closely trails Finland, followed by Iceland, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia.

The report notes that all of the top 10 countries, except for Australia and the Netherlands, have populations of fewer than 15 million, and Canada and the U.K. are the only countries in the top 20 that have populations over 30 million.

The bottom five countries are Afghanistan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Sierra Leone and Congo.

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