Created on 24 March 2026
The World Happiness Report 2026 explores happiness and social media.
Key Findings:
- Finland leads as the 1st happiest country in the world for the 9th successive year.
- Life evaluations among under-25s in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have dropped dramatically over the past decade while the average for the young in the rest of the world has increased.
- Heavy social media use appears to be contributing to the drop in wellbeing among young people in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, especially among girls.
- Platforms driven by algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association with wellbeing, yet those designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness.
- Young people who use social media for less than one hour per day report the highest levels of wellbeing – higher than those who do not use social media at all.
