Canada drops to 18th in 2025 World Happiness Report rank, among the 'largest losers'

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 1:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 13 minutes ago

Canada has slipped to 18th spot successful the planetary World Happiness Report, down 3 spots from past twelvemonth and placing it among the "largest losers" successful happiness rankings implicit the past 2 decades, according to the yearly study released Thursday.

At its peak, successful the 2015 report, Canada had placed fifth. At 18th, Canada has dropped to its lowest-ever presumption since the polling began successful 2005. The United States has besides dropped to its lowest-ever presumption astatine 24th, having antecedently peaked astatine 11th spot successful 2012. The U.K. fell to 23rd.

Finland erstwhile again came retired connected top, named the happiest state successful the satellite for the eighth twelvemonth successful a enactment successful the yearly study published by the Wellbeing Research Centre astatine the University of Oxford.

"In general, the Western concern countries are present little blessed than they were betwixt 2005 and 2010," notes the report. "In 2013, the Top 10 countries were each Western concern countries, but present lone 7 are." 

While the state rankings are based connected asking radical to complaint their ain lives, the authors usage six variables that tin assistance explicate the saltation betwixt countries: Having idiosyncratic to number on, GDP per capita, steadfast beingness expectancy, state to marque beingness choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

Canada ranked 15th and 16th globally for perceptions of corruption and GDP, respectively, but 35th for societal enactment and 68th for state to marque beingness choices. About 18 per cent  of Canadians successful the study said they were dissatisfied with their state to take what they bash with their lives.

There's a inclination for radical to deliberation of happiness arsenic a idiosyncratic contented and a person's ain responsibility, but researchers judge that's not ever the case, said Felix Cheung, a Canada Research Chair successful colonisation well-being and adjunct prof successful the section of science astatine the University of Toronto.

"When 1 idiosyncratic is unhappy, that's an idiosyncratic issue," said Cheung, who is besides a co-author of the World Happiness Report arsenic good arsenic the 2024 Canadian Happiness Report.

"But erstwhile a state is unhappy, this is simply a structural contented — and a structural contented requires a structural problem."

A downward trend

This year's diminution is simply a continuation of a downward inclination for Canadians. The 2024 Canadian Happiness Report, for instance, recovered that Canadians' appraisal of their prime of beingness has steadily declined implicit the past decennary — driven mostly by Canadians younger than 30.

And disadvantaged groups acquisition little beingness satisfaction. The slightest satisfied groups successful the Canadian Happiness Report included members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, radical with debased income, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit people. Canadians experiencing mediocre intelligence wellness were the slightest satisfied with their lives.

So portion wide happiness has dropped, it tends to beryllium concentrated wrong definite groups, which is concerning, explains Cheung. He believes investing successful younker intelligence wellness could beryllium Canada's "best bet" to amended corporate happiness.

There has been a displacement successful what it means to beryllium a young idiosyncratic successful Canada, Cheung said, citing lodging affordability and a consciousness of uncertainty that was lone exacerbated by COVID, erstwhile 1 mightiness presume happiness started declining.

"They consciousness that moving hard doesn't needfully let them to determination up that societal ladder. And that is thing we request to wage attraction to."

WATCH | What makes you happy?

What makes radical happy?

In the caller World Happiness Report, Canada's system played a ample relation successful its ranking, but quality connections mattered, too. 

Researchers accidental that beyond wellness and wealth, immoderate factors that power happiness dependable deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having idiosyncratic to number connected for societal enactment and household size. In the U.S., for example, much radical thin to devour lunches and dinners alone. This is particularly existent for younger people.

The U.S. ranked 69th for meal-sharing, but Canada didn't travel retired overmuch amended astatine 53rd, oregon an mean of 8.4 meals shared per week. Researchers linked sharing meals with well-being.

Believing successful the kindness of others is besides overmuch much intimately tied to happiness than antecedently thought, according to the latest findings. And radical are besides much adjuvant than we deliberation they are.

As an example, the study suggests radical who judge that others are consenting to instrumentality their mislaid wallet is simply a beardown predictor of the wide happiness of a population. And existent rates of wallet instrumentality are astir doubly arsenic precocious arsenic radical expect.

One of the studies researchers looked astatine happened successful Toronto, by comparing experimentally dropped wallets with ample samples of answers from Toronto respondents to the Canadian General Social Survey, according to the report.

 The expected complaint of instrumentality was 23 per cent. The existent instrumentality was implicit 80 per cent.

"People are overmuch excessively pessimistic astir the benevolence of others," notes the report.

Afghanistan ranked last

The survey was done successful concern with the analytics steadfast Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. About 100,000 radical successful 140 countries and territories are polled each year, and successful astir countries, astir 1,000 radical are polled either by telephone oregon look to face.

"Happiness isn't conscionable astir wealthiness oregon maturation — it's astir trust, transportation and knowing radical person your back," said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. "If we privation stronger communities and economies, we indispensable put successful what genuinely matters: each other."

Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden stay the Top 4 and successful the aforesaid order.

While European countries predominate the Top 20 successful the ranking, determination were immoderate exceptions. Despite the warfare with Hamas, Israel came successful astatine eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the Top 10 for the archetypal time, ranking astatine sixth and 10th respectively.

Afghanistan is again ranked arsenic the unhappiest state successful the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are particularly difficult. Sierra Leone successful occidental Africa is the 2nd unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking the 3rd from the bottom.

Part of the extremity of the study is to bespeak connected what defines the occurrence of a nation, explained Cheung.

"We judge that happiness should beryllium portion of that conversation."