2026年世界幸福报告

John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs,Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, and Shun Wang This publication may be reproduced using thefollowing reference: Helliwell, J. F., Layard, R., Sachs, J. D.,De Neve, J.-E., Aknin, L. B., & Wang, S. (Eds.). (2026).World Happiness Report 2026.University of Oxford: Wellbeing Research Centre. Full text and supporting documentationcan be downloaded from the website:worldhappiness.report ISBN 979-8-2513794-7-1 TheWorld Happiness Reportis a publication of the Wellbeing ResearchCentre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup, the UNSustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR’s Editorial Board. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of ourpartners, the University of Oxford, or any organisation, agency, or program ofthe United Nations. Table of ContentsWorld Happiness Report2026 The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of our partners,1Executive summary3Helliwell, Layard, Sachs, De Neve, Aknin, and Wang2International evidence on happiness and social media13Helliwell, Aknin, Huang, Rojas, Wang, Guerra, and Danyluk3Social media is harming adolescents at a scale large enoughto cause changes at the population level67Haidt and Rausch4Translatingscientificevidenceintoeffectivepoliciesforhealth and technology requires care107Lloyd-Hurwitz and Przybylski5Adolescentlifesatisfactionandsocialmediause:genderdifferencesinaninternationaldataset141Twenge, Diomino and Rio6Social media, wasting time, and product traps161Sunstein7Problematicsocialmediauseandadolescentwellbeing:theroleoffamilysocioeconomicstatusacross43countries177Gracia, Fernandez-Urbano, Rubio-Cabañez, Celik, and Cineli8Internetuse,socialmedia,andwellbeing:theroleoftrust,social connections, and emotional bonds199Ozkok, Rosborough, and Malloy9Social media use and wellbeing in the Middle East andNorthAfrica241Burger, Greyling, Rossouw, Sarracino, and Wu the University of Oxford, or any organisation, agency, or program of the United Nations. Chapter 1Executive summary John FHelliwellVancouver School of Economics,University of British Columbia Richard LayardCentre for Economic Performance,London School of Economics and Political Science JeffreyD.SachsCenter for Sustainable Development,Columbia University Jan-EmmanuelDeNeveWellbeing Research Centre,University of Oxford Lara BAkninDepartment of Psychology,Simon Fraser University Shun WangInternational Business School Suzhou,Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Heavy users ofsocial media areat risk, especiallyin English-speakingcountries andWestern Europe. In North America and Western Europe, youngpeople are much less happy than 15 years ago.Over the same period, social media use hasgreatly increased. Many people blame socialmedia for this fall in happiness, but does thishypothesis stand the test of rigorous scientificanalysis? What about the rest of the world, whereyoung people’s happiness has not declinedrelative to adults, even though social media isequally prevalent? Outside the English-speaking world and WesternEurope, the links between social media use andwellbeing are more positive, and they vary betweenplatforms. Data from Latin America show thatplatforms with algorithmic feeds and featuringinfluencers are more likely to be negatively linkedto life satisfaction than those that mainly facilitatecommunication (see Chapter 2). In the Middle East and North Africa, youthwellbeing has not fallen despite heavy use ofsocial media. This must have many causes. Butthere, too, heavy social media use is associatedwith higher levels of depression and stress. Themost problematic platforms are those wherethe main use is passive, and the main materialis visual (encouraging social comparisons) andoften comes from influencers (seeChapter 9). There has been much research on this topic. Thisreport does not attempt a comprehensive synthesisof the academic literature – for that, we refer youto the studies listed at the end of this chapter.1 Instead, we started by asking two leading criticsof social media, Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch,to lay out their case (see Chapter 3). From all this, we conclude that heavy usersof social media are at risk, especially in English-speaking countries and Western Europe. Doesthis mean that social media use fully explainsthe worrying decline in youth wellbeing in thoseregions? Of course not. The trends are causedby many factors, which differ between continents.However, the evidence in this report doessuggest that heavy social media use, especiallyin some countries, provides an important part ofthe explanation. They offer two main types of analysis. First, theyreport what young people, their parents, theirteachers, and employees of social media companieshave said about social media and adolescentwellbeing. The views they report are generallynegative. Then they turn to the academic evidence,chiefly from the United States, for the causalimpact of