A man walks in Skidegate, B.C., on Haida Gwaii, in February, 2025.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Despite living in one of the safest, most stable democracies in a chaotic world, Canadians – and especially young people – are getting more gloomy about life with each passing year – even as most of the world’s population gets happier, according to the 2026 World Happiness Report.
In the country’s worst-ever showing, Canada ranked 25th out of 147 countries in the report’s life-satisfaction standings. Ten years ago, Canadians placed sixth, in the same league as Scandinavians, who consistently rank among the world’s happiest people.
Canada’s story gets even more depressing when only young people 25 and under are counted. The country then falls to 71st, another new low. Young people were once, on average, the happiest Canadian cohort; now they’re the most miserable. And when compared to 136 countries, that 10-year drop in life satisfaction is one of the largest in the world, placing Canada just four slots from the bottom.
Meanwhile, excluding Western Europe and English-speaking countries, the eight other regions of the world, accounting for 90 per cent of the global population, have seen a rise in the overall well-being of young people, according to the report – even though their life circumstances are often more difficult.
This “convergence of happiness” is a positive trend, says John Helliwell, a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and founding editor of the World Happiness Report. “We certainly want happiness growing in the least happy parts of the world.”
The Happiness Report looks more broadly at questions such as level of trust and faith in democracy. But to calculate the international standings, it uses a question from the World Gallup poll that asks people to imagine a ladder and then locate their life satisfaction on rungs from zero to ten. Countries are ranked according to averages of the three most recent years.
Near the top, differences are smaller, so Canadians shouldn’t get too fussed about coming two spots below the United States or brag too loudly about being four spots above Britain. In the 25th spot, Canada’s overall average is about 6.7 on the ladder, about one rung lower than first-place Finland, and five rungs above last-place Afghanistan.
But the report also looks more broadly at other questions, such as levels of trust, and negative and positive emotions.
The downward trend in life satisfaction among young Canadians began well before the pandemic upended their school plans and social lives. Social media – the focus of this year’s report – may play a role but doesn’t fully explain the precipitous happiness decline in Canada, said Dr. Helliwell.
Young people around the world, spend, on average, about the same time on screen, he said. This suggests, as other studies have found, that differences in well-being may be explained more by how youth are using social media and what they are watching.
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When it comes to Canada, says Haifang Huang, a University of Alberta economics professor who analyzes happiness data, the significant explanation for decline in young people’s well-being, is economic.
He points to significant increases in food and housing insecurity over the last 15 years among Canadians between the ages of 20 and 34, a strong link between well-being and concerns about housing affordability, as well as a “substantial erosion” in institutional trust.
Young people in Canada are dealing with a seemingly insurmountable load of problems all at once: a housing crisis, the high cost of university, worry that AI will make those expensive skills useless, loneliness, political polarization, anxiety about climate change and war, a culture that celebrates status and financial success.
“There is everything to fight over, and not so much to bond over,” Dr. Helliwell says.
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And it doesn’t matter if the situation is objectively better than people believe, he says. When people evaluate their lives, perception matters more.
People compare their lives to those around them, and their parents before them. If you are raised with high expectations and cultural messaging about the milestones you need to reach by a certain age to have a successful, meaningful adulthood, it hits harder when you don’t achieve them.
A negative view of the future can affect current behaviour with long-term consequences, says Rosalie Wyonch, associate director of research a the C.D. Howe Institute. For instance, young people who believe buying a home is impossible might not save for a down payment – and then never be able to afford one.
The youngest generation, Ms. Wyonch says, is being battered with pessimistic predictions, while hearing little optimism. No wonder, she says, they’re thinking: “If everybody before me for the last two generations is calling it a struggle, what hope is there for me now that everything’s worse?”
She also points to Canada’s precipitously falling rank when people are asked about their freedom to make life choices. This year, Canada ranked 58th in the report; 10 years ago, the country was 12th. “This shows that people are feeling they’re constrained and not in control,” says Ms. Wyonch. Maybe they can’t move to improve their family situation or leave a job they hate. “That’s a major connection to happiness.”
Young people, she suggests, are experiencing an early version of middle-management angst: “You don’t have a ton of power, almost no resources, but you feel responsible for things you can’t control.”
For a solution, the data suggest, look to Quebec, for many years now the happiest province in the country. If Quebec was a country, it would place 5th in the 2026 happiness ranking, tied with Sweden. (Canada without Quebec falls down to 35th.)
Jacques Forest, a professor in the Organization and Human Resources department at the University of Quebec in Montreal, suggested that the province’s top 10 results can be largely explained by its social programs.
In addition to the material basics, he said people need to feel they have autonomy, competence and connection to work and live at their best. Quebec’s lower tuition fees, he said, make education and training accessible to low-income students and give people control over the careers they pursue. Affordable child care creates options for families and parental leave allows time at home. Those values, he said, then become part of a culture that values care and self-determination.
“There are examples all over the world showing that when you take care of humans you harvest positive things,” Dr. Forest said. He points to the strong social programs that also characterize other top performers in the Happiness Report. “We need to look at what the people who are winning are doing.”
To that end, Dr. Helliwell’s advice is always the same, for policy-makers and individuals. “The secret of happiness is to seek opportunities to make other lives better.”
