It’s lonely for them. The United States drops from the list of the 20 happiest places to live for the first time

The United States isn’t any longer amongst the 20 happiest countries.

Gallup and its partners ranked America twenty third in the 2024 World Happiness Report, up from fifteenth last 12 months. Wednesday’s report marked the first time because it was first published in 2012 that the United States was not amongst the top 20.

The report – which lacks international data – referred to an earlier study that found loneliness in the US peaked around age 20 and declined with age, pointing to this “emerging epidemic” as one possible cause decline in happiness.

“Loneliness is almost twice as high among millennials as among people born before 1965,” according to the report.

The survey found that younger people in North America also reported feeling less pleased than in previous years, and so they were even less satisfied than older people.

“In the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, happiness has fallen across all age groups, but particularly among young people, to the point where young people are now the least happy age group between 2021 and 2023,” the report said.

According to the study, women’s satisfaction levels fell greater than men’s, with younger people seeing a drop of “around three-quarters of a point.” It was further found that negative feelings were more common in women than men of all ages in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, especially in women under 30.

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In recent years, there was a noticeable shift in life satisfaction trends amongst young people around the world, with divergent patterns emerging in numerous regions. Gallup’s report found that although life satisfaction tends to decline from childhood through adolescence and into maturity in most countries, young people aged 15–24 still report higher levels of life satisfaction than older adults around the world.

However, this gap is narrowing in Western Europe and has recently reversed in North America due to falling life satisfaction amongst young people.

Gallup’s World Happiness Report typically assesses happiness levels based on aspects resembling perceptions of corruption, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life selections and economic stability.

Finland tops the rating of the happiest countries, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia.