Canada has passed to the 18th place in El Global World Happiness ReportHe lowered three places last year and placed it among the “greatest losers” in the classification of happiness in the last two decades, according to the annual report published on Thursday.
At its peak, in the 2015 report, Canada had been fifth. In 18, Canada has fallen to its lowest position since the surveys began in 2005. The USA It has also fallen to its lowest position in 24, after having reached its maximum point in the 11th place in 2012. The United Kingdom fell to 23.
Finland once again came out at the top, appointed the happiest country in the world during the eighth consecutive year in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Welfare Research Center of the University of Oxford.
“In general, Western industrial countries are now less happy than between 2005 and 2010,” says the report. “In 2013, the 10 main countries were all Western industrial countries, but now only seven are.”
While the country’s classifications are based on asking people to qualify their own lives, the authors use Six variables That can help explain the variation between countries: to have someone to count, GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make decisions of life, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
Canada classified 15 and 16 worldwide for perceptions of corruption and GDP, respectively, but 35º for social support and 68 for freedom to make life decisions. About 18 percent of Canadians in the report said they were not satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives.
There is a tendency to people to think about happiness as a personal issue and the responsibility of a person, but researchers believe that this is not always the case, said Felix Cheung, president of research in the well -being of the population of Canada and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology of the University of Toronto.
“When a person is not happy, that is an individual problem,” said Cheung, who is also co -author of the World Happiness Report, as well as 2024 Canadian happiness report.
“But when a country is not happy, this is a structural problem, and a structural problem requires a structural problem.”
A descending trend
This year’s decline is a continuation of a downward trend for Canadians. 2024 Canadian happiness reportFor example, he discovered that the evaluation of Canadians of their quality of life has constantly decreased in the last decade, largely driven by Canadians under 30 years.
And disadvantaged groups experience less satisfaction with life. The least satisfied groups in the Canadian happiness report included members of the 2SLGBTQ+community, people with low income and the first nations, the Metis and Inuit people. The Canadians who experienced poor mental health were the least satisfied with their lives.
So, although general happiness has decreased, it tends to concentrate within certain groups, which is worrying, explains Cheung. He believes that investing in youth mental health could be Canada’s “best bet” to improve collective happiness.
There has been a change in what it means to be a young person in Canada, said Cheung, citing the affordability of the house and a feeling of uncertainty that was only exacerbated by Covid, when one could assume that happiness began to decrease.
“They feel that working hard does not necessarily allow them to ascend on that social scale. And that is something to pay attention to.”
In honor of the UN International Happiness Day, we ask people what gives life to life.
What makes people happy?
In the New World Happiness report, Canada’s economy played an important role in its classification, but human connections also imported.
Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: share meals with others, have someone to count for social support and home size. In the United States, for example, more people tend to lunch and dinner alone. This is especially true for younger people.
The United States held 69 to share meals, but Canada did not get much better in 53º, or an average of 8.4 shared meals per week. The researchers link to share meals with well -being.
Believing in the kindness of others is also much more linked to the happiness of what was previously thought, according to the latest findings. And people are also more useful than we think they are.
As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the general happiness of a population. And the real wallet performance rates are around twice what people expect.
One of the studies investigated by the researchers happened in Toronto, comparing wallets experimentally captured with large samples of responses from Toronto respondents with the Canadian General Social Survey, according to the report.
The expected performance rate was 23 percent. The real performance was more than 80 percent.
“People are too pessimistic about the benevolence of others.” Note the report.
Afghanistan last classified
The study was carried out in association with the Gallup analysis firm and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Around 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories are surveyed every year, and in most countries, around 1,000 people are surveyed by telephone or face to face.
“Happiness is not just about wealth or growth: it is confidence, connection and knowing people with their backs,” said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. “If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what really matters: each other.”
In addition to Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden It is still the top 4 and in the same order.
While European countries dominate the 20 best in classification, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel reached the eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, classifying in the sixth and tenth place respectively.
Afghanistan is classified again as the most unhappy country in the world, and Afghan women say their lives are especially difficult. Sierra Leone in Western Africa is the second most unhappy, followed by Lebanon, in the place of the third from the bottom.
Part of the objective of the report is to reflect on what defines the success of a nation, Cheung explained.
“We believe that happiness should be part of that conversation.”
