World Happiness Report: Young people in the West becoming unhappier

People under the age of 30 are experiencing the equivalent of a mid-life crisis in some parts of the world, a new report has found.

The World Happiness Report gives an annual ranking of mood across the world, and for the first time has divided the data by age group.

Average happiness of young people is on the decline across the West, it found.

The shift has driven the US out of the top 20 happiest countries overall for the first time since reporting began.

Lithuania took the top spot for young people, with its under-30 population rating their happiness an average of 7.6 out of 10.

Israel and Serbia followed in second and third.

For seven years in a row, Finland has ranked top for happiness overall. However, looking at its young people alone, it ranks seventh.

The UK placed 32nd for young people, with the US at number 62.

Young people in the US and Canada are experiencing dissatisfaction in a vast range of areas, editor of the report Dr Lara Aknin told the BBC.

"The lower happiness reported by the young (under 30) in the United States and Canada is linked with lower levels of satisfaction in social support, lower satisfaction with living conditions, greater stress and anxiety, lower trust in government and higher perceptions in corruption," she said.

Looking at the rankings overall, the top 10 countries remain much the same as they were before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finland occupies the top spot, Denmark close behind, and all five Nordic countries in the top 10.

In the next 10, there is more of a shift, with some Eastern Europe countries like the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovenia rising in happiness.

The UK rounded out the top 20, trailed by the US at 23rd, eight spots lower than last year.

Researchers attributed the drop in the US ranking to the decline in wellbeing for Americans under 30.

Comparing generations, the report found that those born before 1965 were, on average, happier than those born since 1980, and the gap widens as they get older.

Among millennials, the report found that happiness ratings declined with each year of age, while satisfaction for baby boomers increased with age.

Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, the director of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre and another editor of the World Happiness Report, said the research should ring an alarm for policy-makers.

"We documented disconcerting drops especially in North America and Western Europe," he said.

"To think that, in some parts of the world, children are already experiencing the equivalent of a mid-life crisis demands immediate policy action."

Miika Mäkitalo, Chief Executive of HappyOrNot, a Finnish company that helps businesses measure customer satisfaction, said his country's success was down to a sense of societal trust and a healthy work life balance.

"Work is limited to work hours and they love their free time, meaning their hobbies, things they're doing in the evenings - and annual vacations being four-six weeks - so folks can spend time in nature doing things they enjoy," he told the BBC.

For older populations, Denmark topped the happiness rankings for those aged 60 and above, followed by its usual Nordic neighbours.

The US ranked 10th and the UK 20th.

In the world's most populous nation, India, researchers found that the older a person is, the more satisfied with life they are.

At the other end of the scale, countries with the unhappiest populations were Afghanistan and Lebanon across age groups.

The report also found:

• Globally, young women were the happiest group, though this is by a very narrow margin

• The gap was greatest in the Middle East and North Africa, where broadly speaking, young women reported the highest levels of happiness, most notably in Israel

• Older people were the happiest group in China