Why are young people in the West increasingly unhappy? | DW News 

I`ll tell ya. Because i have to work 128 years without vacation to buy a small one bedroom 30sq metres flat. Thats why im unhappy.

The truth about this rankings is, Finnish people aren't necessarily happy or "happier" in the sense that it's a paradise or utopia over there. I've been there and its mostly that they are more content and have stable lives, because they have much fewer problems than people in other countries.

It's so unfair that our parents could easily buy a house in their 20's just by working for some time .... While I'm here studying and working for years and all i got until is constant disrespect (i work in gastronomy), health issues, anxiety, no free time and 0 money.... Why could it be that young people are depressed ?

Increasingly old politicians make politics for increasingly old people. Young people suffer from it. It's really that simple.

one thing i’ve noticed about scandinavian people is that a lot of them love spending time outdoors and in nature

As a Finn and according to my subjective views, the trust towards institutions and other Finns play an important role. Also the beautiful, clean nature. Take a tour with your or your friends boat on a nice summer day and you know what I am talking about. But no, Finland and Finns have their problems and the state needs the next Nokia to continue funding its welfare policies (there is universal acceptance of the high taxes needed to fund it for a big part). As for young people, I think this is universal and certainly applies to Finland as well. Too much social media, job insecurity and ever more pressure to excel at everything all the time does not suit everybody.

Finland's 'Housing First' initiatives are also a contributing factor to their happiness

As someone who came from Myanmar ( a country with ongoing civil war), having basic needs like food, clothes, shelter and medicine, people I love, stable political system and freedom to make a few choice will make me happy. I don't even ask for much.

So much emphasis on material things, ie, the "American Dream." Those things cannot bring happiness. I'm 76, have never owned a house, have never had a new car. I'm happy and always have been.

It’s hard to be happy when thriving is no longer a possibility, mass layoffs, toxic workplace environments, wars, etc.

People here in Finland just don't like to complain. "I've got two hands and feet left so I guess that makes me happy" . Don't take those happiness reports too seriously.

Not just in West, youngsters in the East also struggle and depressed too

Here in the US, the cost of living is crushing people.

I'm a Finn. I think the main point here is not Finland, it is Nordic Countries. Our societies are stable and safe, for most of us, not for all.

"There is not more Extremely Happy people but less Extremely unhappy people"

Here in the UK young people have been sold out (I am 40), they cant afford to move out, get a car and go on holidays. Why? Things like high rent are used to fund older peoples lives at the expense of the young. This is due to a lack of government management and pure capitalism funneling resources to the lucky few. If that wasnt bad enough, the older generation dont like the idea of parting with money so things like education and health are not properly funded.

To put it simply, at least in the United States, young people are unhappy because of the widening gap between rich and poor, which was greatly expanded during the pandemic. Homeowners and those who could afford houses became wealthier, and those without the means or opportunities to purchase a home are stuck in the rent cycle rut. Home ownership is the biggest way people expand their wealth.

Buy! Buy! Buy! Buy! Buy! Buy! Everyday you're remined to BUY! More! How can you NOT be unhappy?

Because some of us are chronically lonely, with shity jobs and without girlfriend and porpuse.

As a Dane, I find it so depressing that we are still only the second happiest nation in the world :(

Buying a nice house is near impossible. A college/university degree isn’t worth much anymore (depends on major and if you have connections). Many young people still live with their parents. Many graduates come out with debt and focus on that rather than start families. Having kids is expensive. Lack of guaranteed and lengthy maternity/paternity leave. Healthcare system will bankrupt you if you’re in an accident or get sick. Many of us are not happy.

Being addicted to social medias ----> excessive release of dopamine ----> neuro tansmitter imbalance in brain ----> mental illness (major depression, personality disorders etc) What to do : Disengage from your cell phones. Exercise a lot & engage in meaningful relationships

Freedom to own weapons, loads of drug use, corporations running the government, and large portion of population in prison makes you unhappy? You don’t say! Low tax rates, welfare for rich people doesn’t make you happy? How can that be?

I used to live in the United States for almost 11 years, and two things I can say most people in America are sad and aggressive, in other words, very lonely and isolated. I'm grateful that I live in the Netherlands now, and I am super content and happy now.

I’d say it’s the housing crisis mostly. High fixed costs means less discretionary spending. Plus social media & comparisons at a young age doesn’t help imo. And the move around from small town communities into expensive and cramped cities

Equality and safety. Probably the most important imo

I live in Germany, costs of everyrhing raising. The most brutal thing when tax just slashes 30% of yours earned money. You can invent bicycle however you want, but still money is happyness regulator, you like it ir not. Im also thinking about somehow achieving my dream to buy my own apartment at least, but the prices ar sky rocketing.

Knowing you will be working that full time souless job for life to pay for a basic roof over your head that your never at because your at work isn't exactly a recipe for happiness...

We are living in a sick era, society…

The younger people are unhappy because of multi-dimensional reasons. The first reason is financial insecurity. The cost of living is soaring and inflation is increasing by the day. It is becoming harder and tougher to get a decent job with medium to high salary and perks like travel allowances, 4 or 5 day work week and retirement benefits. The second reason is social media addiction and bullying at schools, colleges and even workplaces. The teens are becoming hard wired to look a certain way or behave in a manner deemed appropriate by the society or to look cool or fancy. The lack of purpose in life is also blurred as a casualty of this epidemic. The young pupils are also disillusioned by seeing the "perfect life" of others on their digital profiles. The third reason is the tearing apart of families and social values. With families becoming smaller and busier youngsters belonging to gen Z have no one to talk their heart to or get advice from. Many slip into the bad company because of this communication vacuum. Depression,anxiety and trauma are becoming more and more prevalent among the youth. It's about time there needs, priorities, anxieties,hopes and aspirations are catered to.

Surprised the UK isn't in the report, it's depressing and it's hard to keep motivated when the future looks bleak.

1. LOW LEVEL OF CORRUPTION 2. FUTURE FOR CHILDREN LOOKS ALWAYS POSITIVE . 3 POLICE AND GOVERNMENT . YOU CAN TRUST ON THEM .

as a mid-40's Canadian, extremely high cost of living, excessive taxation, stagnant/minimal wage growth and a continuously shrinking amount of disposable income, is directly related to lower happiness levels. Since I started working full time in 2001, the Canadian governments have failed to take the necessary steps to reduce cost of living issues, stagnant wages and lowering the taxation burden that Gen X, Y & Millennials face due to policies that catered to business and the baby boomer generation. We're left with the debt, bills & burden of epic government incompetence of the 60's, 70's, 80's & 90's.

Don´t aim for happiness. Aim for peace of mind!

The top four are all social democracies. They pay high taxes but they also have most services available to them, free.

I'm 35, and for me it's the massive and increasing gap between the wonders that are eminently possible technologically/economically, versus the pittance that we're constantly told is possible politically/culturally.

Happiness is just so overrated. It's been rammed down our throats so much in the past couple of decades. What we should strive for is an interesting life, with the right level of challenges, and the knowledge that there is always something to look forward to. Happiness is always fleeting and hard to measure qualitatively. Maybe they just ask Finnish people on Fridays, and Germans on Mondays.

Working 9-5, 5 days a week, or more. Not much for holiday time. Need to take more after countries like Sweden, etc..

Another thing we need to understand about Nordic countries is that they are generally much more homogenous than countries like the US and Germany. Generally, they don't have to deal with much of the unrest seen in these other places because they don't have the diversity of these other areas.

Finland is rich, healthy, and free. What more can anyone ask for.

Less unhappy people, not more happy people.

Corporate interests supercede the interests of the general public. It can't last.

Have you tried asking them instead of telling them?

We can barely afford food at home. We all work like mules. Why might young people be depressed?

there is also a difference in how different cultures think of "happy." The US (where I am) tends to not think of contentment as "happy," where other countries do. Contentment in the US, is just being "okay" or maybe slightly higher than neutral

In my country we aren´t happy because of low wages for european standards, public sectors degradation , almost no career progression, most wages are rubbing close to min wage, housing crisis indirect problems are corruption, government and business rubbing shoulders, we are threated as second class citizens in our own country, the government sold our country for tourism,high and slow burocracy,aging population preventing progress among other chronic problems

Canadá, Israel, UK and Costa Rica being high on the list is a total lie 😂😂

Happiness is to live well and with a good perspective and security throughout your life. Stability.

No One mentions Bhutan also as Happiness Country in the world where Happiness comes from Spirituality Inside every human... This indicate that Happiness still measured by Materialism

One thing Germans should be ecstatic about is that they have DW News and DW Documentary. Can't speak highly enough of the quality of journalism delivered by these news channels.

My father lived in Denmark and came across some of the warmest danish people during his doctoral study at Copenhagen University. Nice and warm people, no wonder its ranked second on the happiness index.

TLDR- it's capitalism, the climate breakdown it's causing, and the hoarding of resources.

I’m American our lives no longer rotate around family, fun, and being content. We now only care about money and fame.

I live in Finland since 2003 and I can say it’s absolutely no equality in Finland

They're happy because they know they don't live in the US.

From my experience of living 5 years in Finland, I would rather say Finland would be one of the most worryless countries. (if there is a word like that). No worries = happiness?

GIVE US A LINK TO THE RANKING!!

Because the West tends to put value in material objects, generally speaking. With that in mind, there are fewer material objects being had by younger individuals when compared to those who are older.

They are not overpopulated

Ironically, the happiest nations have the highest intake of anti-depressant.

Seems kinda odd that these same countries also top the list of depression, loneliness and use of antipsychotic drugs. I also find it kinda odd to add GDP and weigh it high in whatever methodology they used.

we're so unhappy because life is too expensive to live, it's all just work work work, barely staying afloat

It's more ethnically homogenous and people trust each other more. Smaller, more ethnically homogenous countries have happier people.

How about the level of suicides and anti-depressants in the Nordic countries?

Bcz we are too obsessed about materialism and we don't believe in anything

If you are a Taxi driver, you are happier in Finland and Sweden. If you are a Urologist, you are happier in USA. There are more taxi driver than Urologist, so Finland and Sweden rank higher. Does not mean, there is one rule of happiness.

I'm depressed with life because its boring af these days. The 80s and 90s were fun and life was vibrant for me, now everything is online lol

Happiness indexes are pretty much just glorified HDI rankings. Additionally, much of why the Nordic countries are constantly ranking so high is that they aren’t really asking people coming from different life positions, but only the people already doing well within the system, and personally for themselves. But as a Dane, melancholy certainly exists in strength, and deeper than even a lot of Danes, or fellow Nordics, are willing to admit.

Ground realities are far different than statistical reports or indices

Why are western young ppl unhappy? My gf and me saw an add yesterday for appartments in our area and the cheapest was 1.6 Mio Euro. If we could afford to pay 3000 Euro for living a month with our combined salary (which we can't, despite having a respectable education), we would still need 45 years to pay that sum off - without factoring in interest. I'd be dead before we fully own the appartment according to our life expectancy. Naturally, we don't want to raise kids because we feel like we couldn't afford them. Where is affordable housing for young families? Where is our money? Big companies keep posting great profits and we struggle to afford a place to live. My grandfather had a farm with 4 cows and bought two houses and two appartments over his working life from the farm earnings. Work doesn't feel worthwile nowadays, like the money goes to someone else's pocket, but surely not into the ones of young professionals.

As a Finn, read The Power of Now and go to nature

Why should people be more happy when life generally gets worse? Each generation people have worked hard and payed taxes and as a result their children have had a better life with more wealth and freedom than they had. This progress seems to have stagnated and in some areas even reversed. Despite countries getting richer and developing better technologies etc less and less of the wealth it creates is trickling down to benefit the average person.

My grandfather with his job at the local plant where he pressed buttons could afford to buy a decent house, support his wife and 10 children and spend his summers at his holiday house in the countryside. Me with my 120k Swiss job live hand to mouth paying for one insurance after another without the prospects of ever having children or a house.

Weird that video about young people and young people (under 30) are happier (no.1) in Lithuania. But not even mentioned this fact. Go Lithuania go!

Finish people are happy because they're paid to go to school, they're paid to go to uni. And the state of the economy is incredibly good.

Here in Canada it's the access to affordable housing. The previous generations took a massive dump on the newer ones because of their greed and it will be an interesting situation once the boomers hit the old age. Lots of people will be left to die alone...

If you are content with less and having a very mediocre, safe, and stable life with 6 months of winter but clean nature Finland is perfect for you. If you strive for more its not the place to be.

And its beautiful to feel melancholy ✨✨✨

In England, where I live, there is a feeling among a lot of young people that the best times are behind us. That our parents lived at Britain's peak. Now is just the decline. It is obvious and in our faces ever day that the Govt don't care about the future. They only care about Gold. The politicians have become so corrupted they are just empty vessels that are owned by Billionaires and Bankers. They only work for them now. This is why the City of London is richer than ever in history, but much of the rest of England is dying. The politicians try to supress wages of the young even further with mass migration. This inflates rents/house prices even higher. Being young in England now feels like you are under attack from your own Govt and corrupt politicians.

I listened to the whole report to hear a data driven reason why young people are historically unhappy, and their answer was "people under 30 are more depressed" . No info at all. I'll venture a guess from experience, though: economic insecurity, student loans, cost of living outpacing income for decades, especially healthcare, school, and housing. Social media and broken political systems. Almost no hope to slow climate change. We see a world where the ladder has been pulled up. Our job is essentially to pay for our parents' retirement with less money and a degraded and unstable environment, then those same systems will be bankrupt by the time we need them. At the same time, a handful of old people have all the wealth, and write the laws to make sure they don't pay any taxes to change this relentless slide of an ever-smaller middle class and worse govt services every year. Yes, these basic issues have always existed to a degree, but they feel more dire then ever, largely bc of climate change and broken politics.

Not just in the west, I say. In the WORLD. Everything has catapulted to unreasonable prices while the job market doesn't offer the income to balance that. Many young people are stressed out just trying to make a living.

What’s the per capita anti-depressant consumption?

The more Islam in any country = Unhappiness

money can buy happiness indeed

What "Happy" countries have is being able to live a basic dignifying life, without the need to be rich

It’s the lack of hope that they feel. I can see the future, and it’s bleak.

There are around 5.5M people in Finland and around 332M in the USA. It is way easier to satisfy the needs of a less populated country. That’s another big factor. It isn’t fair to compare to larger countries. Also, comparing happiness also makes the less happy countries even more unhappy.

Stop illegal immigrations to America and Germany, which deteriorates the social fabric, causes general lawlessness and unfairness, which triggers anxiety for the future. Young people suffer from such hopelessness and unhappiness. Law is the foundation of a good government. No?

Low level of corruption, well functioning institutions, good social welfare, good level of equality, good GDP, well functioning government. No wonder all the countries at the top are Nordic countries.

We have to kearn to love small moments and express freely, like a walk in the park, dancing to good music, sharing a meal, time. I see so many try so hard to stay unhappy, no laughter, no dancing, no sharing.

We have de- authorised the knowing of the heart as a culture and we have a doughnut size hole in there. That's why there is so much unnecessary suffering and we feel unwhole. But it is that knowing that sets the compass, assigns real value to our efforts and deploys the strategic capability of the head, not the other way round. Nowhere is this clearer than with young adults. The addiction and depression statistics in the west go through the roof. There is very little in this culture that supports our mental health and plenty that undermines it. In a healthy culture the rules of social interaction allow for playfulness, for belonging, fot safety and eventually for co- regulation. Our happiness and well being are interpersonal, not individual because there is not such thing as an individual without "others' - without relational context. This individualistic, transactional, money obsessed culture is just too painful to be present in for many people. Especially young people. I would argue that our trust in our system is determined by the degree to which we feel that we belong to it. And it is just hard to belong to a transactional system. That is way the west is so toxic as a culture. It is organised in a way that is antithetical to meeting human needs. We know well how our mental health, our stress levels, our immunity, our physiology are dependent on our social relationships. We simply need other people to be healthy. Yet, this system induced crisis of separation is affecting our sense of social safety. Lonely people die sooner, have more stress related autoimmune diseases and also heart disease, cancer and mental health issues. We live in a toxic system. With adolescence comes spiritual hunger and the degree to which a young person's spiritual core can be supported protects them against depression and addiction. I think the same applies to older adults, although most of us have given up on spiritual quest and become bitter and nihilistic. This is the form of disaggregation of our true self, this is why we feel unwhole. The young person hungers for a meaningful connection for spiritual illumination, for a teacher. If it is not there, they often go for a substitute such as an addiction. Addicts are often lost spiritual seekers. It is precisely that yearning, that emptiness, that hole that leads them towards "soothing ". And this thinking based, distractions based, material stuff based society offers just that.

No doubt that housing affordability's problematic, but rejecting cheaper less than ideal locations is self inflicted.

Because it's difficult, if not impossible, to pay rent with one job. That's one reason...

Happier is relative, however if you live in a country, when no poverty, corruption, and fully social support, etc then happiness follow.

Unconditional right to stop our own life whenever we want medically. My body my choice. Freedom

i think im not happy too

Bottom line . They are happier because they don't live in us.. I live in US and I'm 36 this year. No house and my job pays very little.. you can't get ahead in us unless you have mom and dad money or you grew up in the 70s or 60s... now nobody can get ahead.. I know at least 3 30 somethings living with their parents.. it's bad and getting worst

Norway is not in the first 4?

Because we cannot even afford a home.

By nordic standards the USA is like Haiti or Egypt.