Helsinki — According to the World Happiness Report 2026, published on Thursday, heavy social media use contributes to an overall decline in well-being among young people, with the effects particularly worrisome among teenage girls in English-speaking countries and Western Europe.
An annual report published by Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Center found Finland to be the happiest country in the world for the ninth consecutive year, with other Nordic countries Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway in the top 10.
It highlighted how life assessments of under-25s in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand had fallen significantly over the past decade, and suggested that long hours spent scrolling through social media was a key factor in that trend.
Costa Rica is a new entrant to the list’s top five, rising to fourth place this year after rising through the rankings from 23rd place in 2023.
The report claims that well-being is boosted by family bonds and other social connections.
“We think this is due to the quality of their social life and the stability they currently enjoy,” said John-Emmanuel de Neve, an Oxford economics professor who directs the Well-Being Research Center and co-edited the World Happiness Report.
“Latin America generally has stronger family ties, stronger social ties, a greater level of social capital, as sociologists call it, more than other places,” he said.
The stable ranking above Finland and other Northern European countries is related to the composition of wealth, its equitable distribution, a welfare state that protects people from the risks of recession and healthy life expectancy, the report said.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb responded on Thursday that his country was once again in first place, saying, “I don’t think there is a magic potion, but it helps to have a society that strives towards freedom, equality and justice.”
Pensioner Semi Salmi, who was about to swim in a cold seawater pool in Helsinki, echoed that sentiment, saying, “Finns are very satisfied, confident, believe in their system, their country, their government.”
She emphasized the benefit of having access to better health care, saying, “My father is now in long-term care and he is being well taken care of by the system.”
As in previous years, countries in or near major conflict zones remain at the bottom of the rankings. Afghanistan is again the least satisfied country, followed by Sierra Leone and Africa’s Malawi.
The country rankings are based on responses from nearly 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories, who were asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with research firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
In most countries, about 1,000 people are contacted each year by telephone or face-to-face.
Respondents were asked to rate their lives on a scale from 0 to 10. Among under-25s in English-speaking and Western European countries, that score has fallen by nearly one point over the past decade.
The negative relationship between well-being and extensive social media use is particularly concerning among adolescent girls, the report said. For example, 15-year-old girls who use social media for five hours or more report a decline in life satisfaction, compared to others who use it less.
Young people who used social media less than an hour a day reported the highest levels of well-being, researchers said, more than those who did not use social media. But teenagers spend an average of 2.5 hours a day on social media.
“It’s clear that we need to look as much as possible to bring the ‘social’ back to social media,” De Neve said.
Researchers have noted that in some parts of the world, such as the Middle East and South America, the links between social media use and well-being are more positive – and youth well-being has not declined despite heavy social media use.
The report said this was due to many factors that differed between continents, but concluded that heavy social media use in some countries was a major contributing factor to the decline in youth well-being.
The most problematic platforms, it said, are algorithmic feeds, feature influencers and encourage social comparisons where the main content is visual. Those who mainly use platforms that facilitate communication do well.
The 2026 ranking marks the second year in a row that no English-speaking countries appear in the top 10. The United States ranks 23rd, Canada ranks 25th, and Britain ranks 29th.
The report’s focus on social media comes at a time when more and more countries are banning or considering banning social media for minors.
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Grieshaber reports from Berlin.
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