Is the digital landscape quietly making a generation less happy? The answer, according to the latest World Happiness Report 2026, appears to be yes. Heavy social media use seems to be contributing to a drop in wellbeing among young people in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, especially among girls, according to the report’s findings, published on March 19, ahead of the UN’s International Day of Happiness.
Brought out by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board, the World Happiness Report 2026 provides an insight into the global picture of social media and happiness.
Less happy youngsters
The report said that life evaluations among those aged under 25 in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have dropped dramatically (by almost one point on a 0 to 10 scale) over the past decade, while the average for the young in the rest of the world has increased, according to Gallup World Poll data.
According to data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which covered seven internet activities for 15-year-old students in 47 countries (not including United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), life satisfaction is highest at low rates of social media use and lower at higher rates of use.
Looking at two groups of Internet activities, it said that communications, news, learning, and content creation are associated with higher life satisfaction, while social media, gaming, and browsing for fun are associated with lower life evaluations. All internet activities are associated with lower life satisfaction at very high rates of use, especially for girls and for those in the U.K. and Ireland, the two English-speaking countries in PISA.
Type of internet use is a factor
Data from Latin America show that the type of platform is crucial. Those designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness, whereas those driven by algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association at high rates of use, the report said.
When combined, PISA and Gallup data show significantly higher youth wellbeing in countries that spend more time using the internet for communication, and insignificantly lower youth wellbeing in countries with higher average hours of social media use.
Young people who use social media for less than one hour per day report the highest levels of wellbeing. This was higher than those who do not use social media at all. But adolescents are spending an average of 2.5 hours a day on social media as per one estimate, it said.
Happiest countries
The 14th edition of the World Happiness Report has also put out a ranking of the world’s happiest countries, with Nordic countries leading the rankings. Finland continued to lead the world in happiness for a record ninth year in a row, according to the ranking of the world’s happiest countries. Finns reported an average score of 7.764 out of 10 when asked to evaluate their lives. Finland was followed by Iceland and Denmark. Costa Rica, by climbing to number four, continued its multi-year rise from a low of 23rd in 2023. This rise marks the highest ever ranking for a Latin American country, it said.
Switzerland (10th) re-entered the top 10 after a one-year absence. The upward trends continued for countries such as Kosovo (16th), Slovenia (18th) and Czechia (20th).
But there was a catch. For the first time since the World Happiness Report was published in 2012, none of the English-speaking countries – New Zealand (11th), Ireland (13th), Australia (15th), United States (23rd), Canada (25th) and the UK (29th) – appear in the top 10, with only half in the top 20. India stood at a distant 116th rank, with Indians reporting an average score of 4.536.
The report also found that nations in or near zones of major conflict remain at the foot of the rankings. These rankings, according to the report, are based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life. Factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption are also taken into account.
Larger ramifications
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, and an editor of the World Happiness Report, said, “The global evidence makes clear that the links between social media use and our wellbeing heavily depends on what platforms we’re using, who’s using them and how, as well as for how long. Heavy usage is associated with much lower wellbeing, but those deliberately off social media also appear to be missing out on some positive effects. Beyond the complexity, it is clear that we should look as much as possible to put the ‘social’ back into social media.”
The findings describe a complex global picture at a time when many countries are seeking to implement greater legislative protections for those aged under 16 online. In December 2025, the Australian government increased the age limit for 10 social media platforms from 13 to 16, while other countries, including Denmark, France, and Spain, are planning similar regulation, the report said, hoping that the evidence in the volume would help policy-makers in their assessment of such policies.
Published – March 19, 2026 09:20 am IST
