Canada drops drastically in the World Happiness ranking

Canada’s ranking for 2025 has dropped drastically in the World Happiness Report.

Just released today, the annual report, published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, combines wellbeing data from over 140 countries. The Gallup World Poll collects data, and people are asked to rate their own lives.

In most countries, approximately 1,000 people are contacted by telephone or face-to-face each year.

Canada is now ranked 25th out of 147 countries, marking a steady decline since 2011. Canada was fifth in the world in 2011, and the drop is stark this year, down from 18th in 2024.

In part, the lower ranking is blamed on an increase in social media use, particularly among young people.

“In North America and Western Europe, young people are much less happy than 15 years ago,” the report states. “Over the same period, social media use has greatly increased.”

Heavy users of social media are at risk of a decline in wellbeing, the report concluded, adding that there are many factors impacting happiness that differ between continents.

Data from Latin America reveal that the type of platform is crucial, the report states.

“Platforms designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness, whereas those driven by algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association at high rates of use,” the report states.

Some countries are taking action on social media. In December 2025, the Australian government increased the age limit for ten social media platforms from 13 to 16. Other countries, including Denmark, France, and Spain, are planning similar regulations.

Nordic countries lead the happiness rankings once again. Finland is still in a group of one at the top, followed by a group of three: Iceland, Denmark, and Costa Rica. Sweden and Norway complete the top six, followed by the Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg, and Switzerland to round out the top ten.

Costa Rica’s rise to fourth marks the highest ever ranking for a Latin American country.

United States is at 23rd place and Britain is 29th.

The ranking factors include healthy life expectancy, which is about 70 years old for Canada, about the same as Finland.

Finland has high values for social support, 93.4 per cent, freedom, 94.1 per cent and a low value for perceptions of corruption at 21 per cent.

Canada’s values for social support is also high at 92 per cent, but freedom is lower at 85.8 per cent, and the value for perceptions of corruption is over double, at 43.2 per cent.

See the full report here.

Lead photo: Filipe Freitas