World Happiness Report 2024 European Launch

It felt very appropriate that the 2024 World Happiness Report European Release day coincided with the International Day of Happiness and the second day of the World Happiness Summit in London. A video message from John Helliwell introduced the report, which is powered by Gallup research and focuses on happiness at different ages and stages and a special chapter on India. The underlying message to readers is that local environments - our neighborhoods, families, and schools - are of primary importance for wellbeing and are places where we have the capacity to make a big difference.

This year’s report paid special attention to the wellbeing of children and adolescents, and used additional datasets to include younger populations in the happiness rankings among nations. Youth in the US ranked 63rd in the world, but youth are happier in Central and Eastern Europe and happiest in Lithuania.

Dr. Jose Marquez shared that, overall, wellbeing is higher among youth than adults, especially in lower income countries. Women and girls report lower life satisfaction in high income countries, but the gap does not manifest the same way in other parts of the world. Leoni Boyle called for more internationally representative longitudinal research, especially from sub Saharan African countries.

To understand childhood wellbeing throughout their development, we need datasets that include early childhood to middle adolescence. Lord Richard Layard discussed that generational wellbeing analysis can inform policies aimed at better mental health services for young people, programs within school curriculum that promote socioemotional learning, and mitigating the risks of social media.

As Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve stated, “We have to focus on child and adolescent wellbeing because they have a long life ahead of them.” After all, early life wellbeing is the biggest predictor of later life satisfaction and wellbeing.