Americans Are Unhappier Than Ever. Solo Dining May Be a Sign.

New York Times

20-03-2025

Americans are making too many solo dinner reservations.
That was one takeaway from the annual World Happiness Report, which was released on Thursday and showed that the United States had dipped to its lowest slot in the country rankings — 24th — after being ranked as high as 11th in 2012, the first year of the report.
Americans are increasingly miserable, the report says, and it explored a possible indicator: The number of Americans eating alone has risen exponentially this century.
In 2023, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics's American Time Use Survey, about a quarter of Americans reported eating all of their meals alone the previous day, an increase of 53 percent since 2003.
'The extent to which you share meals is predictive of the social support you have, the pro-social behaviors you exhibit and the trust you have in others,' Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, a University of Oxford professor and an author of the report, said in an interview.
This trend is even more pronounced among young people. For American adults under 25, there has been an 80 percent increase in dining alone among Americans, numbers that Dr. De Neve called 'disconcerting.' The survey, which is compiled annually by a consortium of groups including the United Nations and Gallup, offers another data point in the so-called loneliness epidemic, which researchers and officials have said in recent years is becoming a bigger concern, particularly among young men as they spend more and more time on their phones.
Eating alone increases political polarization as well, Dr. De Neve said.
'The fact that we're increasingly socially isolated means also that we're not testing our ideas about the world with other people,' he said. 'And the more you sit around the table with other people who might have somewhat different views, the more you start moderating your own views. And the increasing lack of social interaction and social isolation as a result, for a lot of people — amplified by echo chambers — makes people more radical.'
The report also makes the case that declining happiness and social trust in the United States and parts of Europe has driven a series of 'anti-system' political victories, such as the election of President Trump, and a rise in political polarization. According to the study, the share of American people who trust others has declined by almost half since the 1970s, dropping to 30 percent from 50 percent.
'Far-left voters have a higher level of social trust, while right-wing populists have a very low level of social trust,' the report says.
For the eighth year in a row, Finland took the top spot in the rankings. Of course, not everyone in Finland is happy with the survey, which essentially asks residents of countries to rate their own happiness. The study accounts for the last three years.
On Thursday, during a panel discussion about the report in Washington, D.C., Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Finland's ambassador to the United States, offered several theories for why the Finns have been so happy for so long. They included trust among fellow citizens and in the educational system, proximity to nature and 'weekly sauna sessions.'
'Our American friends, you smile and laugh much more than we do,' Ms. Mikkola said during the panel discussion. 'But happiness for us is maybe being content.'
In an interview, Ms. Mikkola said Finland had other structural advantages over the United States, including its size.
'In a small country, there is also perhaps more of this awareness that we need each other,' she said. 'In a bigger country, you can somehow box yourself into different corners.'
Costa Rica (No. 6) and Mexico (No. 10) entered the Top 10 for the first time, and other countries like Lithuania (16th, up from 19th) and Slovenia (19th, up from 21st) continued to move up in the rankings.
During the panel discussion, Catalina Crespo Sancho, Costa Rica's ambassador to the United States, likened her country's population to sloths — in a good way.
'They're very slow, yes. But nobody wants to eat them,' Ms. Sancho said. 'They do not want to eat anyone or any of the other animals in the forest. They get along with everyone. All the animals get along with them. However, they get to where they need to get, even though it takes forever to cross a road.'
But as far as the United States is concerned, Ms. Mikkola remained optimistic: 'I haven't met an unpleasant person during my six months here.'