Why are America's youth so deeply unhappy?
The Excerpt
USA TODAY
4.1 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2024
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
With the world’s largest economy and its highest GDP, you might think the United States would have the world’s happiest citizens. But you’d be wrong. This year, when the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network released its annual World Happiness Report, the U.S. had dropped out of the top 20, landing at 23rd on the list. The reason? America's youth are deeply unhappy. What societal and cultural factors are at play here? Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Centre and a professor of economics and behavioral science, joins The Excerpt to share his insights into what truly makes people happy.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wunderry Plus subscribers can listen to USA Today's The Excerpt, ad free right now. |
| 0:05.0 | Join Wunderry Plus in the Wundery app. |
| 0:08.0 | Hello and welcome to the Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Sunday June 2nd |
| 0:15.9 | 2024. What makes a people happy? With the world's largest economy and its highest GDP, |
| 0:30.0 | you might think the United States would have the world's happiest |
| 0:33.8 | citizens but you'd be wrong. This year when the United Nations |
| 0:37.5 | sustainable development solutions network released its annual world |
| 0:41.4 | happiness report, the US had dropped out of the top 20 released its annual World Happiness Report, |
| 0:42.6 | the U.S. dropped out of the top 20, |
| 0:45.2 | landing at 23rd on the list. |
| 0:47.6 | Meanwhile, guess who held on to the top spot |
| 0:49.9 | for its seventh consecutive year, Finland. |
| 0:53.3 | What societal and cultural factors |
| 0:56.0 | have led to Finland consistently coming out on top. |
| 0:59.3 | To talk more about the latest happiness report, |
| 1:02.2 | I'm now joined by Jan Manuel de Nave, |
| 1:04.8 | director of Oxford University's Well-being research center and professor of economics and |
| 1:10.3 | behavioral science. Jan, thanks for being on the excerpt. |
| 1:13.6 | Thank you, Dana, for having me. |
| 1:15.3 | Social media sites are often blamed for so much unhappiness, especially in young people, |
| 1:20.8 | but social media is definitely here to stay. There's no putting that |
| 1:24.0 | genie back in the bottle. How can young people or any of us really continue to |
... |
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