HELSINKI — The Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford released the World Happiness Report 2026 on March 18, 2026, ranking Finland as the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year. The report found that heavy social media use contributes to a decline in well-being among young people, particularly teenage girls in English-speaking countries and Western Europe.

Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway rank among the top 10 countries in the report, while Costa Rica climbed to fourth place after being ranked 23rd in 2023. Costa Rica's rise in ranking is attributed to well-being boosts from family bonds and other social connections. "We think it's because of the quality of their social lives and the stability that they currently enjoy," said Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, an Oxford economics professor who directs the Wellbeing Research Centre and co-edits the World Happiness Report. "Latin America more generally has strong family ties, strong social ties, a great level of social capital, as a sociologist would call it, more so than in other places," De Neve said.

Life evaluations among under-25-year-olds in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have declined over the past decade, with long hours spent scrolling through social media identified as a key factor. Among under-25s in English-speaking and Western European countries, average life evaluation scores declined by almost one point over the past decade. The report found a negative correlation between well-being and extensive social media use among teenage girls, with 15-year-old girls who use social media for five hours or more reporting lower life satisfaction compared to those who use it less.

The steady top ranking of Finland and other Northern European countries is related to a combination of wealth, equal wealth distribution, a welfare state that protects people from recession risks, and healthy life expectancy. "I do not think there is a magic potion, but it helps to have a society which strives towards freedom, equality and justice," said Alexander Stubb, Finnish President. Semi Salmi, a pensioner who was swimming in a cold sea water pool in Helsinki, said "Finns are very content, confident, have faith in their system, their country, their government." Salmi also said "My father is now in a long-term care and he's extremely well taken care of by the system."

"It is clear that we should look as much as possible to put the 'social' back into social media," said De Neve.

Country happiness rankings were based on responses from around 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories, conducted in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Respondents were asked to evaluate their lives on a scale from 0 to 10, with approximately 1,000 people contacted by telephone or face-to-face each year in most countries. Afghanistan ranked as the least happy country, followed by Sierra Leone and Malawi.