“Happiness recession”: Understanding Wellbeing in Uncertainty via Finland and the UK
Being from the UK and now having lived in Finland for two and a half years, I have begun to see myself being somewhat on a bridge between these two distinct places and cultures. As both are in Europe, there is a certain degree of similarity but still many distinctions — from language and climate to more abstract qualities like how society feels and the cultural markerstones which signal the underlying attitudes of the peoples. In addition, much of my work is focused on aspects which mean I have a tendency to think about how these and other societies and cultures work.
Last week, I found myself thinking about being on this bridge when I read some of the many news pieces sparked from the results of a new study. The Children’s Society is a children’s charity in the UK that has been functioning for over 140 years for happier, safer, more hopeful society for children. Each year they release a Good Childhood Report and the 2024 report revealed the current state of wellbeing among young people in the UK: the leading fact that has sparked discussion is that the UK’s 15-year-olds had the lowest average life satisfaction in Europe. 25% of 15-year-olds reported low life satisfaction, which is at least twice as high as among their peers in Finland, Denmark, Romania, Portugal, Croatia and Hungary.
Going beyond the headline
This fact caught significant attention, generating a lot of media focus and discussion primarily on whether or not it was accurate, as well as the expected sense check that many youth in higher performing countries have problems and dissatisfactions also. Very true but perhaps a little redundant: of course, happiness and life satisfaction are complex things to measure as each culture and individual has a different perspective on what these terms mean and set of drivers for what creates them. Nevertheless, statistics like this can still give a meaningful indicator, especially as the results of this study were not an outlier, even when we know that quantitative data can be inaccurate and never conveys the full picture.
What was more alarming to me was that the data not only showed that the UK’s 15 year olds have the lowest life satisfaction, but the largest gap in average life satisfaction between the most and least disadvantaged 15-year-olds. Of course, all countries’ scores will have variance and disadvantage isn’t a surprising differentiator, however knowing this gap was widest in the UK and was almost double the rest of Europe’s gap is alarming, especially given the already low average. Many aspects of physical and mental wellbeing vary widely across the UK including across regions and nations — life expectancy being one of the best reported, with extreme variance between cities and even train stops within a city.
From my viewpoint, this doesn’t reveal things we didn’t already know in the UK but it does put data behind it, revealing how pressing the issue is and how far behind the UK is on wellbeing compared to the rest of Europe. This study serves as a strong reminder that although these inequalities are present in many contexts, a certain degree of scrutiny is needed of the inequality among young people’s experience in the UK. Certainly over the last decade, there have been increasing signs and warnings from educational institutions, healthcare services, parents, and indeed children themselves that there have been inadequate support systems and funding for current and future youth — from educational and cultural funding cuts, the removal of easy access to study and travel in Europe, and insufficiently ambitious climate policy and investments.
For example, I remember well in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020, UNICEF warned the UK of a “looming children’s crisis” due to low mental wellbeing (rated poor among 36% of 15 year olds), physical health (with 31% of children obese or overweight), and basic literary and numeracy skills (with 37% of children lacking them). Warning that these issues were being compounded by the pandemic and its corresponding measures, Sacha Deshmukh, then Executive Director of UNICEF UK, said:
“Over the years, stable economic and social conditions have not fully translated into positive outcomes for children… Sadly, it seems that poor mental health, obesity and inadequate social and academic skills are now the hallmarks of modern childhood... For many children, life is now even tougher and a bright, fulfilling future is further from reach.”
Diverging paths in Europe on happiness
Even with some of these distinctions in the UK being said, there is a bigger picture and divergence of happiness in Europe. The 2024 edition of the World Happiness Report (based on a three year average of 2021–2023) showed that some European countries that previously lagged behind others on happiness — such as Lithuania, Czechia, and Slovenia — have closed the gap primarily due to having happy youth. Lithuania only recently became one of the 20 happiest countries but, when looking at the youth rankings (meaning those under 30), it ranks first.
By contrast, European countries that have typically been securely in the most happiest countries have happier older generations but are seeing rising unhappiness in young people. These include countries that still rank high on overall average, such as Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Finland bears looking at further, having now ranked as the happiest country in the world five times in a row to the Finns’ own bemusement. As you can see in the table extract below of the top 20 countries, Finland ranks first overall for all ages and for those in their middle ages, but sees a lower score for the young, ranking only seventh. Although this is still high compared to other countries, it is a difference (of 6 positions) which could suggest Finland may not lead the world in happiness if the trend continues. Furthermore, you can see more dramatic differences in Sweden and Norway’s youth ranking relative to other age groups (14 and 13 position differences respectively). The UK also sees a more dissatisfied youth (12 position difference) with the lowest youth ranking in European countries in the top 20.
The Future of Happiness?
Coming back to the Children’s Society’s report, one of the other elements that most struck me was the reminder that in March 2024, the launch of the UK Children’s Commissioner’s Big Ambition involved releasing the results of a large-scale consultation of children and young people in England which found that only 22% of children agreed that adults who run the country listened to their views. As children got older they were progressively less likely to respond positively to this statement. A somewhat related statement also faired poorly with only 52% feeling empowered to change issues they care about, with under-6s and teenagers less likely to agree.
In addition to other elements of happiness, such as mental and physical health, it seems increasingly important to ensure young people feel a sense of hope and agency towards the future and their place within it. There is already much discussion of how different genders are faring in the complex world we have, with girls’ wellbeing significantly impacted by inequality and threats to their rights, and a growing concern over boys’ wellbeing being impacted by digital technologies and loneliness, as well as the need to focus further on ensuring support and equality for LGBT+ youth. One example being that the sources the Good Childhood Report draws from only enable binary gender analysis so they recognise that views of LGBT+ children are not sufficiently represented or analysed. Amidst many societal challenges and an overall uncertainty of what the future holds, understanding different youth demographics and the diversities within and between them is needed to help them form positive pathways forward that signal a hopeful future is possible, both for society overall but also for them as individuals.
If the current and future youth remain on average less happy, this will have significant effects on the labour market, economy, culture, communities, and the youth who will grow to be part of the solution-seeking-and-testing collaborations attempting to address some of the core issues affecting happiness, such as inequality and injustice, insufficient and outdated education and skills-building, insufficient housing supply and opportunities, the climate crisis, and more.
Coming back to Finland and the UK
Although I have a personal link between these two places driving a certain level of concern, I also objectively believe that both of these countries are well positioned to be part of exploring and defining the future of happiness. Firstly, both occupy distinct positions in current happiness rankings — first globally and last in Europe — and have incentives to consider happiness further — Finland because of the potentially less happy youth demographic and the UK because of the already poor situation which will continue to effect societal activities and performance. Secondly, both countries have strong knowledge in relevant areas that could be key to addressing the issue of youth happiness and sense of possibility for a positive future — for example, both have strong reputations in education, Finland more for primary education and the UK more for tertiary. Furthermore, both have strong reputations in fields such as foresight.
Of course, Finland and the UK are not representative of the whole of Europe but dialogue and exchange between them offers a good basis for exchanging experience and scoping new routes to test on specific areas. Their contexts and governance are also sufficiently different that there could also be lessons extracted for other contexts. A few of the most pertinent areas at the top of my mind include:
- With the UK showing some signs of focus on this topic — with the new ministerial taskforce working on a Child Poverty Strategy and the emerging Children’s Wellbeing Bill, but contrasted by the remaining two-child benefit cap — increased dialogue and peer learning on both how to systemically address the interconnected drivers of low child wellbeing and poverty, and how government can organise itself to best support this interdisciplinary issue would be timely.
- How to ensure future-oriented strategies and visions for youth and wellbeing are progressed into meaningful, systemic actions across government and society rather than remaining isolated or un-enacted.
- With both countries having good reputations in the field of education, exploring how wellbeing, hope, and agency can be increased through education and the culture of how youth are educated.
- Tangible exploration of how to monitor and measure a wide array of governmental processes and initiatives with the perspective of how well they lead to positive wellbeing outcomes including across different demographics.
Decision makers currently face multiple, interconnected crises and red flags like the recent reports that have emerged signal a strong need for seeking alternative conceptions and measurements of what “successful” societies look like. The wellbeing of current and future generations, as well as other species and our planet are intrinsically interconnected and should be the main indicators of societal achievement. If wellbeing is put at the core of governmental decisions and aims, what would this look like and how would it change the way government organises itself on cross-cutting issues like education, housing, climate, labour and economic policy, and more?
Rather than focusing discussion on blaming individual variables for young people’s “happiness recession”, such as social media, climate, COVID, and the state of the economy, instead we should find ways to create pathways towards hope for younger generations, despite the challenges present in society. Fostering and facilitating shared learning and thinking on addressing this between my home country, the UK, and now home and high-performer in happiness, Finland, is one of the many ways in which these pathways have the potential to be found.
