Canada slips to 15th place in annual World Happiness Report
CTV
Canada has slipped from 13th to 15th place in the annual World Happiness Report, now sitting behind countries like Costa Rica, Kuwait and Austria.
Canada has slipped to 15th place in the annual World Happiness Report.
Down from 13th place last year, Canada now sits behind countries like Costa Rica, Kuwait and Austria.
"What's happened in Canada and the United States is that over the past few years, those under 30 have become much less happy than they were 10 or a dozen years ago," Canadian economist and World Happiness Report founding editor John Helliwell told CTV News Channel on Wednesday.
"There hasn't been much change among the over 60s, and it's not matched by anything by way of changes to their life circumstances, so it's clearly an angst."
Based on survey data from 140 countries, the report uses six key variables to help explain respondents' life evaluations: GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption. The 2024 report was also the first to include separate rankings by age, which revealed stark differences between young and old in several countries.
Helliwell, who is a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia's Vancouver School of Economics, believes negative news in English-language media – and especially social media – can be blamed in part for Canada's fall on the happiness scale.
"We have just looked and said, 'How does this work out in Quebec?' Because Quebec is not so focused on the English-language media," Helliwell explained. "And indeed, the drop among young people in Quebec is only half as great as that in the rest of Canada."
