The World Happiness Report 2024 – Happiness and Age – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #932

The World Happiness Report 2024 – Happiness and Age – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #932

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #932 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here.

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Word Happiness Report 2024 brings information from around the world about the happiness levels among people. The focus in this report is on the relationship between happiness and age, and the happiness of people at different stages of life. 

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. But since 2006-10, happiness among the young has fallen sharply among the young (15 – 24) in North America, to the point where young are less happy than the old. Youth happiness has also fallen in Western Europe, but less sharply. 

By contrast, happiness at every age has risen sharply in Central and Eastern Europe, so that young people are now equally happy in both parts of Europe. However, in the South Asia, Middle East, and North Africa, happiness has fallen at every age. 

The happiness rankings of countries are based on life evaluations, as the more stable measure of the quality of people’s lives.

The measurement of subjective wellbeing continues to rely on three main wellbeing indicators: life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions. However, the rankings are based mainly on life evaluations. The usual happiness rankings are based on three-years average of life evaluations. For this report, the measuring period is 2021 to 2023.

Country Rankings on Overall Happiness Score

Top 10

1. Finland

2. Denmark

3. Iceland

4. Sweden

5. Israel

6. Netherlands

7. Norway

8. Luxembourg

9. Switzerland

10. Australia

Lowest 10

134. Zambia

135. Eswatini

136. Malawi

137. Botswana

138. Zimbabwe

139. Congo

140. Sierra Leone

141. Lesotho

142. Lebanon

143. Afghanistan

Others Countries of Interest

• Canada #15

• UK #20

• UAE #22

• USA #23

• Saudi Arabia #28

• Brazil #44

• South Korea #52

• China #60

• Russia #72

• Indonesia #80

• Iraq #92

• Türkiye #98

• Iran #100

• Pakistan #108

• India #126

• Bangladesh #129

National average life evaluations is measured along six key variables: GDP per capita (purchasing power parity), healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption.

Country Rankings on Happiness of the Young (below 30 years)

#1 – Lithuania

#2 – Israel

#3 – Serbia

#4 – Iceland

#5 – Denmark

#7 – Finland 

#19 – Australia

#32 – UK

#35 – UAE

#42 – Saudi Arabia

#52 – South Korea

#62 – USA

#79 – China

#96 – Iran

#101 – Türkiye

#107 – Pakistan

#127 – India

#128 – Bangladesh

#143 – Afghanistan

Country Rankings on Happiness of the Old (over 60 years)

#1 – Denmark

#2 – Finland

#3 – Norway

#4 – Sweden

#5 – Iceland

#10 – USA

#11 – UAE

#20 – UK

#27 – Saudi Arabia

#30 – China

#37 – Brazil

#59 – South Korea

#71 – Malaysia

#92 – Türkiye

#103 – Iran

#120 – Bangladesh

#121 – India

#122 – Pakistan

#143 – Afghanistan

Ranking of Countries on Life Evaluation by Age Group, 2021 – 2023

Country All Ages The Young Lower Middle Upper Middle The Old Happiest Least Happy

Finland 1             7                      1                        1                     2             Old       Young

Israel 5              2                     2                     7                     18   Young     Old

Canada 15             58            28                     12               8     Old  Young

UK         20             32          27                   19                     20      Old   Young

UAE 22            36                   25                   16                     11      Old LowerMiddle

USA 23            62                   42                   17                     10      Old LowerMiddle

Saudi Arabia 28    42                   39                   14                     27 UpperMiddle LowerMiddle

South Korea 52    52                   45                   55                      59    Young        Old

China 60            79                   67                   57                     30       Old LowerMiddle

Türkiye 98           101           98                   92                     92    Young      Old

Iran 100                   96                 100                   104            103 Young UpperMiddle

Pakistan 108          107                 109                   113             122   Young      Old

India 126          127                 127                    121              121  Young LowerMiddle

Bangladesh 128  128                 129                    129              120  Young UpperMiddle

Afghanistan 143  143                 143                    143              143   Young      Old

Sum Up

The World Happiness Report 2024 is a long report with lots of data on multiple variables. It makes interesting and educative reading. However, it would not be appropriate for this blog post to go into too many details. Some summary points are given below.

The biggest change in overall ranking is within the top 20. Though Finland is still No. 1, but other countries have changed significantly.

 In many countries, young people have expressed greater happiness than the old people.

The inequality has increased by more than 20% over the past dozen years, in all regions and age groups, to an extent that differs a lot by age and by region. 

In 2021 -2023, negative emotions were in every region more prevalent for females than males, with almost everywhere the gender gap being larger at higher ages. Negative emotions are more frequent now than in 2006-2010 everywhere, except East Asia and both parts of Europe.

Positive emotions have not changed much, while still remaining more frequent for the young than for older age groups.

Benevolence increased after the COVID19 pandemic, for all generations, but especially so for Millennials and Generation Z, who are even more likely than their predecessors to help others in need.

In almost every global region, comparably measured feelings of social support are more than twice as prevalent as loneliness. This is a positive development because social interactions add to happiness.

Concluded.

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For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intention to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, however, it happens unintentionally, I offer my sincere regrets.

References:

The World Happiness Report is a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Center, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the WHR’s Editorial Board. Complete report available on https://worldhappiness.report/