Come dine with me – research suggests sharing meals linked to happiness
In the UK, people on average dine with others for seven of their meals each week – four dinners and three lunches, data suggested.
Researchers from University College London (UCL) said the data on meal sharing had been 'collected and analysed at a global scale' and remarked that their findings were surprising in the 'strength of the connection of meal sharing with positive life evaluations and emotions'.
The research was carried out as part of the The World Happiness Report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.
Those behind the study, which looked at data collected by global analytics firm Gallup in 2022 and 2023, found 'strong and significant associations between sharing meals and subjective wellbeing'.
They said this was the case 'even after accounting for income, education, employment, and other key indicators'.
They added: 'In almost all regions, sharing more meals with others proves to be highly predictive of higher life evaluations, more positive effect, and less negative effect.'
The UK ranked 81st in the global study of 142 countries, which saw Senegal in west Africa top the list with locals sharing close to 12 meals each week with others.
Bangladesh and Estonia came bottom, with residents sharing only around three meals per week on average.
The UK ranked below the United States, which placed 69th, but above Germany which was at 91 in the table.
Concluding further detailed exploration is required into the topic, the researchers noted that 'it remains unclear whether sharing meals leads to greater wellbeing or whether greater wellbeing leads to more shared meals'.
Dr Alberto Prati, one of the researchers from UCL, said: 'This is the first time that data on meal sharing has been collected and analysed at a global scale.
'We already knew how important social connections are for wellbeing, but we were surprised by the strength of the connection of meal sharing with positive life evaluations and emotions.
'We believe that these findings have useful policy implications and highlight the number of shared meals as a promising yet understudied comparative index for social research.'
The research also ranked the UK 23rd in average life evaluation – its worst result since 2017.
Finland was ranked the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row.
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