The World Happiness Report, an annual survey measuring the global happiness of more than 140 countries since 2012, recently published its latest rankings.
The rankings are based on just one main life evaluation question. The survey uses the Cantril ladder where people are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst possible life being a 0. Next, they are asked to rate their own current lives on a 0 to 10 scale.
To explain the variation across countries, the researchers use observed data on six variables (GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, social support, and corruption) and estimates of their associations with life evaluations.
For the first time, the U.S. has fallen out of the top 20 countries in happiness, according to the latest report.
Are we as a country less happy than we used to be?
It's not that cut and dried and is a bit more nuanced as science tends to be. To better grasp the full picture, it’s essential to understand that it’s the first time the report separated the results by age. In doing so they found a great disparity between the younger and the older generations in happiness........