The End of the Happiness U-Curve: Why Today’s Young People Are the Saddest in History
youth-unhappy
For decades, psychologists and economists believed in the “happiness U-curve”—a universal pattern suggesting that people start life relatively happy, experience a dip in satisfaction during midlife, and regain happiness in old age. But according to groundbreaking new research, this curve has flattened and even reversed for the first time in human history.
A global study published in PLOS One by Professor David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and his research team reveals a dramatic psychological shift: younger generations are now the least satisfied age group, with happiness increasing as people grow older.
This seismic change, the researchers warn, is not confined to a single country or culture—it’s being observed across more than 80 nations, from the United States to Africa, suggesting a profound transformation in global well-being.
A Reversal of the Universal Happiness Pattern
Professor Blanchflower, a leading labor economist and former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, describes the findings as both shocking and deeply concerning.
“Unhappiness is now declining with age, while happiness increases as people get older,” Blanchflower said. “We suddenly saw a significant drop in young people’s well-being. These numbers genuinely surprised us.”
Traditionally, the happiness U-curve reflected a consistent biological and social rhythm of life: optimism in youth, stress and responsibility in midlife, and renewed perspective in later years. But today’s data show that young adults are starting out far less happy than any previous generation on record.
An Epidemic of Anxiety and Hopelessness Among Youth
The research found that young adults report much higher levels of anxiety, hopelessness, and inadequacy than older groups. Particularly alarming is the data among young women, where one in nine describes feeling unhappy almost every day.
The trend holds true across regions and income levels, suggesting that the issue transcends economics or geography. Whether in high-income nations or developing economies, young people report similar patterns of emotional distress, loneliness, and dissatisfaction.
In some Western countries, mental health crises among youth have become a defining social problem of the 2020s, with rising rates of self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and depression overwhelming healthcare systems.
Smartphones Identified as the Turning Point
According to Blanchflower and his co-authors, the decline in youth happiness cannot be explained by the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, or economic hardship alone. Their data show that the downward spiral in emotional well-being began around 2011 and accelerated sharply after 2014—a timeline that coincides with the mass adoption of smartphones and social media.
“The strongest factor we identified is the spread of smartphones,” Blanchflower explained.
This aligns with other research suggesting that screen time, social comparison, and digital isolation are profoundly reshaping the emotional development of young people. Constant exposure to curated images, online bullying, and algorithm-driven anxiety loops appears to have created a generation that feels more connected digitally but lonelier than ever.
From Biology to Technology: A Broken Evolutionary Pattern
The happiness U-curve was once considered so universal that it was even observed in great apes, suggesting it had deep biological roots. That makes the current reversal all the more alarming.
“Even in primates, happiness tends to dip in middle age and rise again later,” Blanchflower noted. “The fact that young humans are now starting life more miserable than ever is a complete rupture of that pattern.”
This shift, researchers argue, may have far-reaching social consequences. Declining youth happiness is linked to falling productivity, reduced social trust, political polarization, and rising mental health costs.
A Global Wake-Up Call
Experts say the findings should serve as a wake-up call for educators, parents, and policymakers. If left unaddressed, the mental health collapse among young people could undermine economic and social progress worldwide.
Blanchflower warns that the trend could have been mitigated if action had been taken sooner:
“This picture is frightening. We should have acted on it years ago.”
As humanity enters an era where technology mediates nearly every human interaction, the authors of the study emphasize that rethinking the relationship between mental health and digital life is now an urgent priority.
The end of the happiness U-curve doesn’t just challenge psychology textbooks—it challenges how societies understand progress itself. If youth, once the symbol of optimism, are now the unhappiest group, what does that say about the world we’ve built for them?