Americans under 30 are so miserable that the U.S. just fell to a historically low ranking in the world happiness report
Americans under 30 are so miserable that the U.S. just fell to a historically low ranking in the world happiness report
In the annual World Happiness Report, the U.S. drops to no.24, its lowest position in the list's 13-year history.
We view the late 40s through the 70s as a golden age for the American middle class. People raising families off a single income. Yearly vacations. Affordable higher education.
Know why?
We taxed the ever-loving fuck out of the wealthy back then.
Then the wealthy bought the politicians and stopped that from happening.
And now we're all sad.
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN'T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
I'm over 30 and I'm pretty fuckin' miserable, too!
But I guess I was actually paying attention to how fucked things have been politically since I was able to start voting pushing nearly 30 years ago now.
In regards to the actual article:
The researchers say they were able to pick up on the distrust by asking whether or not people believed someone would return a lost wallet. Compared to the Nordic countries, people in the U.S. were more likely to underestimate the kindness of others.
“It requires that strangers are to be trusted, that they will go beyond the call of duty and be kind and try and get it back to the rightful owner, or drop it with the police, which means you need to trust the police,” De Neve says. “That single item of the wallet drop is very powerful.”
There's literally, literally a flip side to this "lost wallet" equation in the US as well. Have you ever been the person who was kind enough to return a lost wallet? Have you also ever been the person who was accused by the person you returned it to of stealing a bunch of things (like cash) out of the wallet? It's actually a fairly common occurence in the the US. So not only is there distrust in whether or not others will return a wallet, there is a valid distrust by people who find lost wallets that the wallet owner won't lie about the original contents of the wallet and accuse them of theft anyway. At what point does it just become pointless to bother with returning a wallet at all if you're going to be accused of a crime because you did the right thing?
Apologies for (slight retch) a reddit link:
https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1j1yqt9/found_a_wallet_with_200_and_i_returned_it_to_its/Bottom line: The US is filled with selfish untrustworthy fucking maniacs.
When asked how miserable millennials are, the response was overwhelmingly unchanged, in-fact the generation regards itself as having the shittiest life experience marked by late-stage capitalism, and the adoption of a boring cyberpunk dystopia. US millennials largely see retirement as something impossible, as many cannot afford homes, cars, or healthcare.
See, that's why they just mention under 30s, because it's far worse for the rest of us.
Fuck this shithole of a country and fuck the wealthy in my parents generation who threw away my future. Damn right young people are miserable.
Not just under 30. My husband is disabled and if ACA or VA benefits get cut he will die. Horribly but slowly, in our house where I will have to take care of him until the end. And pray we still have enough of a functioning society to bury him when the time comes. How I am supposed to feel anything other than horror and dread for the future!?
I'm European, and I get miserable reading about the USA.
It's also quite telling that I see so many American expats here nowadays. It used to be quite rare, usually if you met an American living here they would be either working for an American company, or have a relationship with a local.
Now, I'm just meeting a lot of super talented and smart Americans who took a major paycut just to not live in the US anymore.
Yee that tracks. I can already see the brain drain
I'm over 30 and still unhappy
Slightly related perhaps, at least if you're an HBS grad.
Portion of job-seeking Harvard Business School students who were unemployed three months after graduation
- in 2022 : 1/10
- In 2024 : 1/4
From Harper's Index 4/2025
I think one thing we're all going to have to remember, is that living in unprecedented times means we're going to have to start holding ourselves to unprecedented standards. We should all be very angry and demanding better as a society, but it's important to give ourselves grace as individuals, remember it's up to us to try and avoid the things that make us unhappy as much as we can, and be proud of ourselves when we do manage to find glimmers of happiness while living in a dystopian society.
I say that to remind myself as much as to give advice to anyone else. I remember dreading 30 as it approached, and feeling like I was nowhere near where I was supposed to be. It felt like I had done everything I was supposed to do, but just never saw the payout for doing it. I had gotten a college degree, then a graduate degree. This allowed me to get a 9-5 job that I dreaded going to everyday. I was under a mountain of college loan debt. I barely made enough to cover my rent, let alone ever consider buying a house. I felt like I was going nowhere fast, and when I looked at social media, it felt like I was way behind all of my peers.
That was also around the time I decided that if I couldn't obtain the material things that were supposed to make me feel happy and successful, I would focus on maximizing the activities and relationships that made me happy while slowly (and sometimes painfully) cutting out the things that only made me more miserable.
Flashforward a decade as I begin to approach 40, and I wish I could tell you that the material things eventually all worked themselves out, but pretty sure you already know they didn't.
Financially I'm in basically the same situation I was then, except now I have a child to take care of, so obviously that means less money. Even with cost of living and merit based raises over the years, with inflation and an even worse housing market, it just never seemed to work out to making much of a difference. I'm still buried under the mountain of student debt and barely make rent each month. I also found out this past week that I'm losing my job soon, and as a federally funded researcher, the prospects of me finding one to replace it aren't great to say the least.
However, even though the stakes are more dire than ever, and hard times are only forecast to get harder, I don't feel quite as pessimistic as I did when I was approaching 30. I actually feel a bit of comradery with the majority of Americans, because I think most of us are in a pretty similar boat. As far as my personal relationships and family, I'm happier than I've ever been.
Maybe it's just a part of mellowing out with age, but I feel it's also in part due to being very happy with my personal relationships, and the people that are in my life now vs a decade ago. I've gotten involved in community work in my free time, and as of 2025 I feel a drive to embrace that kind of work more than ever. In a lot of ways starting from scratch at almost 40 is scary, but in some ways it's actually somewhat of a relief. The last of a mirage that was keeping me in my stable career has been destroyed, and it would feel a bit more delusional for me to jump ship to a similar job knowing it will eventually just meet the same fate.
Again, I want to stress I don't say this as a way to get people to be docile and just accept what's happening, but to channel your anger and frustration into something that gives you a sense of accomplishment. If anyone in your life is making you think that being unhappy with the current situation is strictly a you problem, and not a reflection of reality, that's a good sign you should probably lessen your ties to them for now. If they want to do some self reflection and try to come back later, that's always an option.
Finding others in your community that feel the same way, and working together locally to keep people informed and prepared for policy changes before they happen, is one of the easiest ways you can improve your immediate surroundings and feel some power in a situation where we're all pretty powerless.
Most of the senators and representatives we've elected to look out for our interests are failing hard. It's important to keep in mind that everything happening at a federal level is going to start happening at state levels. In many red states it has already begun. DOGE inspired taskforces are popping up all over the country. I've been keeping a list of them, but even since my most recent update a few weeks ago, more have been announced.
Here is the list so far if anyone is interested: https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/state-level-doge-inspired-task-forces-pop-up-across-u-s-promoted-by-republican-governors-love-of-small-government/
Regardless of where they're located, all of these DOGE task forces have a common goal. Make up a dollar amount to show how much they're saving tax payers, find excuses to cut money for social programs (and in some cases even cuts to government safety programs that help prepare for natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes) in order to make that dollars saves number a reality. Citizens suffer, their lives are made worse, and governors and their wealthy friends become even wealthier, all in the name of trimming wasteful spending and getting rid of bureaucracy.
It's easy to get stuck in a mindset where you let the reality of yesterday influence the way you view your present, but it's a mental trap. I haven't used any form of social media that isn't anonymous in almost a decade. No Facebook or Instagram. I don't scroll by pictures of a lifestyle that never even came close to matching my reality. I think it's no coincidence that I no longer feel left out among my peers, when I'm not acknowledging false public images people attempt to shape for themselves online. Instead, I feel more connected to a bigger chunk of America than ever before, and it's helped me to realize how much we all have in common regardless of political identity.
I certainly hope the younger generation Americans examine Denmark and copy their system.
Came across my feed yesterday. He's in the UK but it applies to almost every country.
I'm 50 and miserable. Everyone who isn't well off is miserable, and that's like 75% of the country.
What was it your rapist conman pedo president said? Shithole country, that’s it.
Israel ranked 8th in 2025, if I recall correctly. 8th happiest country on earth, higher than my country (UK) or USA. Mind you, in 2024 they were 5th happiest so its not all sunshine and roses for the IDF. For comparison, I could not find rankings for Palestine or Hamas.
Makes me wonder exactly what they were measuring as 'happiness', how they measure it, and who they asked!?! They certainly did not ask Israelis opposed to genocide and doing their best to put Netanyahu in gaol - I have Israeli friends like this and they are off the chart miserable right now.
I guess MAGA cultists of all ages, Nazis, Christo-fascists, first-time Gen Z male voters enthralled by the triumph of the Trump, that Alpha Male so adored by the not gay but straight very straight get that right straight as straight as Vance he's married and she's not his beard manly Manosphere influncers like that guy whose name I forgot but was accused of rape in Romania, or the Gen Z Betas 100% in bed with the incels (so to speak), plus Tesla customers, and OpenAI employees, plus anyone who shot his balls off to own the libs, are all enjoying peak happiness right now - actually their Venn diagram is just one big happy circle. So cheer up, USA, its not bleak for everyone! /s.
Seriously, this happiness ranking is clickbait bullshit, don't let it spoil your day.
Daaaaaamn 😔