Oxford News
World Happiness Report 2026 shows a complex global picture of social media and happiness
Life evaluations among under 25s in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have dropped dramatically (by almost one point on a 0-10 scale) over the past decade, while the average for the young in the rest of the world has increased, according to Gallup World Poll data.
One international survey of 15-year-olds in nearly 50 countries suggests heavy social media use is associated, on average, with a significant drop in wellbeing among the students surveyed, though any effect is highly dependent on the type of social media platform being used, how it is used, as well as demographic factors such as gender and socio-economic status.
The global evidence makes clear that the links between social media use and our wellbeing heavily depend on what platforms we’re using, who’s using them and how, as well as for how long. Heavy usage is associated with much lower wellbeing, but those deliberately off social media also appear to be missing out on some positive effects. Beyond the complexity, it is clear that we should look as much as possible to put the ‘social’ back into social media.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director, Wellbeing Research Centre
Other factors, such as social connections and a sense of belonging, are associated with much bigger changes in how respondents feel about their lives.
Young people who use social media for less than one hour per day report the highest levels of wellbeing – higher than those who do not use social media at all. But adolescents are, by one estimate, spending an average of 2.5 hours a day on social media.
The findings are published today ahead of the UN’s International Day of Happiness. The rankings are powered by Gallup World Poll data and other sources, and analysed by an international team of leading experts in wellbeing science.
Contributors include the psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, generational differences expert Jean Twenge, and Nudge co-author Cass Sunstein.
The evidence describes a complex global picture at a time when many countries are seeking to implement greater legislative protections for under-16s online.
Further key findings published in World Happiness Report 2026 include:
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Despite similar levels of social media use compared to other countries, the largest drops in wellbeing among young people are observed in English-speaking countries, in particular in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
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An association between social media and reduced wellbeing is found in multiple sources including surveys, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, and natural experiments …
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… but there is considerable variation in the interpretation of evidence by professional science organisations, including differences in citation accuracy, contextual detail, acknowledgement of limitations, and conclusion strength.
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Platforms driven by algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association with wellbeing, yet those designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness.
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Social media creates a standard collective action problem – if social media channels exist, people lose out by not joining, but most people agree they would be better off if they did not exist.
The 14th edition of the World Happiness Report also contains a ranking of the world’s happiest countries:
Finland leads the world in happiness for a record ninth year in a row, with Finns reporting an average score of 7.764 (out of 10) when asked to evaluate their lives.
Costa Rica (4th) climbs to its best-ever position, continuing a multi-year rise from a low of 23rd in 2023, while former table-topper Switzerland (10th) re-enters the top 10 after a one-year absence.
Continued upward trends for countries such as Kosovo (16th), Slovenia (18th) and Czechia (20th) underline the convergence of happiness levels between Central and Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.
The 2026 rankings mark the second year in a row that none of the English-speaking countries, New Zealand (11th), Ireland (13th), Australia (15th), United States (23rd), Canada (25th), and the UK (29th) appear in the top 10, with only half in the top 20. Nations in or near zones of major conflict remain at the foot of the rankings.
Rankings are based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life. Experts then seek to account for the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
These factors help to explain the differences across nations, while the rankings themselves are based solely on the answers people give when asked to rate their own lives.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, and an editor of the World Happiness Report, said: ‘The global evidence makes clear that the links between social media use and our wellbeing heavily depend on what platforms we’re using, who’s using them and how, as well as for how long. Heavy usage is associated with much lower wellbeing, but those deliberately off social media also appear to be missing out on some positive effects. Beyond the complexity, it is clear that we should look as much as possible to put the ‘social’ back into social media.’
Read the report in full at worldhappiness.report, and explore the data at data.worldhappiness.report.
For more information about this story or republishing this content, please contact [email protected]
Zac Sanger-Reynolds, of North Hinksey Lane in Oxford, previously plead guilty to stalking at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on Friday, April 28.
He will appear at the Buckinghamshire court on Thursday, June 4 for an application to vary a restraining order.
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Sanger-Reynolds was handed the order in April after a mother-of-two spoke to the Oxford Mail about his ‘obsession’ after she became uninterested in him after two dates.
He was told to complete 100 hours of un-paid, supervised work within 12 months and undertake 26 days of rehabilitation.
He was also ordered to pay £199, including £114 for the victim surcharge and £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Construction company Taylor Wimpey was granted the development on appeal in 2017 for up to 95 homes at Thames Farm, off Reading Road in Lower Shiplake.
It has since reduced this to 84 to provide adequate drainage because “the land is unstable and vulnerable to sinkholes”.
Taylor Wimpey said the new drainage plans will ensure there are no off-site impacts relating to surface water and this will include a basin on the western part of the site.
Members of the Thames Farm Action Group, which represents Shiplake residents, have concerns about the environmental impact of the scheme, which they say has no precedent in the UK.
The ground would have to be injected with grout and concrete to keep stable despite it sitting on top of an aquifer that supplies water to nearby towns.
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In July 2025, the planning committee of South Oxfordshire District Council voted to refuse the ground-stabilisation application despite a recommendation for approval.
Councillors cited concerns about possible impacts on the aquifer and public water supply.
The formal refusal notice stated the application “failed to demonstrate that the proposed engineering operations would not pose an unacceptable risk to the aquifer and nearby public water abstraction points”.
But now the plans have been given the go ahead by a separate planning inspector.
Despite objections from the district council the project appears to have been given the go ahead.
Freddie Van Mierlo, MP for Henley and Thame, said: “I will be working with The Thames Farm Action Group, Henley Town Council, Shiplake Parish Council and Harpsden Councils to ensure their voices are heard.”
The new report states there is a risk, but it’s “an acceptable level of risk” for the area.
The TV cook, now best known for his seafood restaurants and BBC travel series, grew up on a farm in Churchill, a small village just outside the market town of Chipping Norton.
Mr Stein later went on to study English at Oxford, further strengthening his ties to Oxfordshire alongside his upbringing in the Cotswolds.
During his time as a student, he maintained a long‑term relationship with Jill Stein, who would go on to co‑found and run the business side of his restaurant empire.
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The couple later married, remained together for many years while building their businesses, and eventually divorced after their relationship broke down.
In a recent interview with The Times, the 76-year-old revisited a near‑fatal incident in Oxford which she says has left her with permanent hearing loss.
She had moved to London while Mr Stein was at Oxford, and had arranged to meet him in Oxford for a weekend.
Ms Stein discovered that he was instead drinking at a student club and confronted him when he eventually arrived at the pub where she was waiting.
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He recalled in the book that he reacted “angrily but also very lustfully”, but remembering that night, Ms Stein told The Times: “He did nearly kill me.”
Driving fast on the Oxford bypass, Mr Stein crashed into roadworks and hit a 44‑gallon drum, sending an oil lamp through the windscreen and into her head.
Ms Stein said: “He could see that I was bleeding quite a lot and I said, ‘oh, just put me to bed. I’ll be fine.’ And he thought, even though he was drunk, ‘no, I’m not sure about this’.
“‘I think I’ll ring the ambulance’. So he rang the ambulance and, because it was a 999 call, the police came along as well, and they breathalysed him.”
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At the John Radcliffe Hospital, a brain surgeon operated on her, and during her interview with The Times, Ms Stein pointed to her left side and added: “And that’s why I can’t hear in this ear.”
Asked how long it took her to forgive him, she reflected: “I never blamed him really. I don’t know why, but I didn’t.”
Mr Stein later began a relationship with Sarah Burns, a publicist who had worked with his company, while he was still married to Jill Stein.
The affair eventually led to the end of his first marriage, and he went on to marry his second wife in 2011, with the couple now living between Australia and the UK.
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