The “World Happiness Report,” compiled annually by the United Nations and Gallup, has some bad news for America’s young people: For the first time since the survey began in 2012, the United States fell out of the Top 20 and down to 23rd place—driven largely by a major decline in good feelings among those under 30.
Finland remains in the top spot in the report, a feat they’ve achieved seven years in a row.
The U.S. hit an all-time low ranking in the World Happiness Report, tumbling eight spots to 23rd.
— Axios (@axios) March 24, 2024
A steady supply of studies has found that Americans feel glum about issues ranging from loneliness to the economy and the country's political leadership. https://t.co/litFUf23rK
The report revealed the huge happiness gap between our senior population and our youth:
Americans have long been an unhappy bunch. They have never ranked in the Top 10 of the World Happiness Report, which is based on how respondents in different countries rate their own happiness.
But this was the first time that the consortium separated results by age, finding disparities in the views of younger and older Americans. Among the 143 countries surveyed, the United States ranked 10th for people 60 and older, but 62nd for people under 30. The happiest young people are in Lithuania, while the unhappiest are in Afghanistan.
The findings even startled one of the co-authors:
“I have never seen such an extreme change,” John Helliwell, an economist and a co-author of the report, said in an interview, referring to the drop in happiness among younger people. “This has all happened in the last 10 years, and it’s mainly in the English-language countries. There isn’t this drop in the world as a whole.”
Now why would this? We live in the greatest country on earth, with vast opportunities, freedoms, and resources. That’s not enough to make our young adults smile?
I would posit that there are two causes for this sharp decline: wokeness and Joe Biden.
From a very young age, kids are now taught that their very existence threatens the environment and that they should feel guilty about every plane ride, every car trip, every hot shower—anything that is derived from fossil fuels. Since green technology has not advanced enough for people to completely avoid these activities—there are no commercial electric jet airplane fleets as far as I’m aware—they’re inevitably going to do something they will be made to feel guilty about.
They’re also taught that if they’re white, they’re oppressors and irredeemable, and if they’re a minority, they’re oppressed and will never get a fair shake in this country. They’re taught that their nation is irredeemably racist and just isn't all that great.
What’s to smile about?
They’re taught that there are no genders and that anyone can be whatever sex they choose. They’re taught that Christianity is basically evil, but other religions are the bee's knees. That the entire history of Western Civilization is built on savagery and discrimination.
See: Finnish Study: 'Woke' People More Likely to be Unhappy, Anxious and Depressed.' No Kidding.
That’s some of the woke part of the equation; it’s certainly not an exhaustive list. Moving on to Joe Biden, he’s the president of your country, and you hear him routinely declare that half its citizens are evil and want to hurt the other half. If you believe that, how would that make you feel? Not like getting out of bed in the morning.
See: Biden Delivers One of the Most Divisive, Hate-Filled Speeches in the History of Our Presidency
But his policies have also taken a huge bite of their hopes for their own future. Between inflation and sky-high interest rates, ambitions are getting crushed. Many young people are just struggling to pay for their groceries and their rent—buying a house with an almost eight percent mortgage rate seems but a far-off, unrealistic dream.
Not a ton to smile about for young people.
It’s a depressing Happiness Report, there’s no getting around it, but there are signs of pushback against the divisive woke nonsense and Joe Biden. I see more and more youth questioning the narrative that’s being spewed at them in schools across the country. Joe Biden’s poll numbers are awful, showing that people are waking up to his disastrous policies and realizing that his sharp turn to the extreme left is not doing good things to America.
Our young people are our greatest resource, and it's troubling to see them with such unhappy outlooks.
NEW: World Happiness Report 2024 is here! Explore the full report to understand the state of global happiness, the happiest countries in the world, and what we can learn about generational differences in wellbeing.
— World Happiness Report (@HappinessRpt) March 20, 2024
👉 https://t.co/BTDhl6za73 👈
🧵1/16 | #WHR2024 pic.twitter.com/kZFu6QVAZ3
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