By Joshua Robinson – 

New research has found that young people are becoming increasingly less happy when compared to their older counterparts as they suffer “the equivalent of a midlife crisis.”

The World Happiness Report, is an annual report of wellbeing in 140 nations coordinated by Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Centre, Gallup, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Dr Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, has said the role of social media in the lives of young people has had serious consequences, and that the lack of government legalisation to better regulate social media in recent years was “insane”.

Dr Murthy spoke to The Guardian as the data from the research revealed that young people across North America were now less happy than previous generations, with the same shift expected to happen in Western Europe.

Dr Murthy further described the report findings as a: “red flag that young people are really struggling in the US and now increasingly around the world.”

He stated that he was still waiting to see data that proved social media platforms were safe for children and adolescents, and called for international action to improve real-life social connections for young people.

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Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Wellbeing Research Centre and editor of the study, said that the report showed: “disconcerting drops [in youth happiness] especially in North America and western Europe.”

“To think that in some parts of the world children are already experiencing the equivalent of a midlife crisis, demands immediate policy action.”

British people aged under 30 ranked 32nd, behind nations such as Moldova, Kosovo and, El Salvador, which has one of the world’s highest murder rates. In contrast, British people in their 60s made it into the top 20 of the world’s happiest older generations.

The results of the World Happiness Report have arrived during an increasing concern with social media use, the cost-of-living crisis, and climate change on the happiness of children and young people.

The World Happiness Report tracks wellbeing by using the respondents’ self-evaluation of their lives and their positive and negative emotions – Finland, Denmark and Iceland were the top three happiest countries.

It was found in the report that childhood wellbeing and emotional health may be the best predictor of adult life satisfaction.

Lord Layard, a Labour peer in the UK parliament and co-editor of the report, said to The Guardian that child wellbeing should be a big concern at the general election, and added: “We need pledges to upgrade mental health support teams and to make them universal across the country. And life skills should be taught in every school.”

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