Australia has fallen to its lowest ranking in the World Happiness Report, as social media makes young people feel worse than ever before.

The annual report ranks 140 countries on the general wellbeing of their citizens, with Australia falling to 15th in the rankings, a drop of four places from last year.

The report, totalling more than 200 pages, said the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Australia had declined significantly due to the impacts of social media.

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It was not alone, with New Zealand, Canada and the United States seeing the wellbeing levels of their younger populations – people under 25 – falling dramatically since the report began in 2013.

In rankings for happiness changes for people under 25 years old, the four countries fell between 122 and 133 in the list, out of 136 countries.

The study cited some Australian surveys of younger people who felt social media was becoming a large factor in declining mental health.

"Australian survey data show similar patterns, with young people identifying social media as a leading contributor to declining youth mental health," the report said.

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"When the apparent victims are surveyed, they positively identify social media as the perpetrator." 

It marks a fall from grace for Australia in the World Happiness Report, consistently being in the top 10 since its creation, only sliding out in 2025.

Nordic and Scandinavian countries dominated the top 10, with Finland coming out on top, followed by Iceland and Denmark.

New Zealand came in 11th, while the United States and the United Kingdom were further down in 23rd and 29th, respectively.

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The report, which was centred around happiness and social media, made specific mention of Australia's world-leading social media ban, which was implemented for children under 16-years-old at the end of last year.

The report's authors said the findings concluded Australia's model should be one to follow.

"We believe that the evidence is now sufficient to justify the sort of action that the Australian government took in 2025 when it raised the age for opening or maintaining a social media account to 16," it said.

"Recent evidence suggests that younger individuals – especially in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand – are experiencing declining levels of wellbeing and mental health. Potentially, this is a result of increased social media use among young people."

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