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36-year-old happiness researcher shares what it means—and what it takes—to be happy: ‘Don’t just worry about yourself’

CNBC

At just 16, Michael Plant became interested in what people could do to maximize happiness, so he started studying philosophy.

Two decades later, Plant, 36, is a global happiness researcher at the Happier Lives Institute. As the founder and research director of HLI and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, which publishes the annual World Happiness Report, Plant knows a lot about what makes people happier.

Happiness, Plant says, is “the experience of feeling good overall. I think it’s that simple.”

Here’s what he does every day to maximize his own happiness and overall wellbeing. Plus, his biggest takeaways from the research he’s conducted about what it means to be happy — and what it takes.

Welcome to the ‘antisocial century’: Are we lonelier now than ever?

El País

It’s not a decision without consequences. For Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, professor of economics and well-being at the University of Oxford and one of the index’s editors, “there is a very direct correlation between loneliness and unhappiness.” Furthermore, self-imposed loneliness, no matter how much it may seem to respond to an individual or generational trend and, therefore, may seem “short-term satisfying,” is a source of emotional imbalance and loss of well-being.

The happiest countries in the world, according to De Neve, continue to be Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. That is, precisely those where, among many other factors, the loneliness epidemic seems to have progressed the least in recent years.

How companies can improve workplace wellbeing in the Intelligent Age – and why it matters

World Economic Forum

The world of work for many people in 2025 “isn’t necessarily a positive place,” says Jan-Emmanuel De Neve.

Five years after the COVID pandemic increased the focus on mental health and wellbeing at work, “the pendulum is swinging back” to a pre-COVID era, the Oxford Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science believes, with a shift away from the human case for investing in workplace wellbeing.

Why Is Social Connection So Hard for Young Adults?

Greater Good Magazine

Social connectedness is vital to well-being, but members of Gen Z are hesitant about interacting with one another in today’s online and polarized world, says Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki. That disconnection comes at a cost: Young adults increasingly report lower levels of happiness than middle-aged and older adults.

Zaki and Rui Pei, a postdoctoral scholar in his lab, recently coauthored a chapter on the importance of social connection to the mental health of young people in the 2025 World Happiness Report. Zaki is also the author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.

Eating lunch and dinner with others brings an ‘uptick in life satisfaction’—here’s how many meals you should share each week

CNBC

In Senegal, out of 14 lunches and dinners per week, people share 11.7 meals, according to the 2025 World Happiness Report. In Sweden, people share 9.5 meals per week, in the U.S. people share 7.9 meals per week and in Japan, people share 3.7 meals per week.

And it turns out the number of meals you eat with others has an effect on your overall wellbeing. In fact, “there’s an optimal level of social eating,” says Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, editor of the report and director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.

Trump is creating a selfish, miserable world. Here’s what we can do

The Guardian

But what should you do if you don’t like the way the world is going? Is there anything you can do?

The obvious answer is to rage, doomscroll and hope for the next election. But the obvious answer is no longer an option once we realize the antidote to Trump is to build a happier, higher trust society. Drawing on my dual experience as a moral philosopher and happiness researcher, I’d like to suggest some alternative ways you can fight back.

Finland Says It Can Teach Tourists to Be Happy. Challenge Accepted.

The New York Times

I had come to Finland to see whether I could bring happiness back to America with me. Finland has topped the World Happiness Report for the past eight years, a merit largely attributed to the Nordic welfare state, trust in the government, and public policies like free education and universal health care. Under these criteria, living in the United States (No. 24 on the list) is practically a recipe for misery. But the Finns also find contentment in more attainable ways, such as their close relationship with nature (74 percent of the country is covered by forest) and visiting the sauna daily (there are three million saunas for a population of 5.5 million).

America’s happiness crisis is a generational divide

Salon

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve also provides some hope in this global era of crisis, great anxiety and dread. He explains that the 2025 World Happiness Survey shows that people across the world are generally much kinder and caring than is commonly believed.

What it’s like to live in the happiest country on Earth

BBC Travel

Finns tend to accept the accolade of supreme happiness, bestowed on them by the World Happiness Report in March 2025 for the eighth time in a row, with a collective shrug and eye roll. But Finnish travel operators are celebrating as travellers increasingly make the connection between Finland and happiness, hoping to come and experience that Finnish brand of happiness for themselves.

Have You Got Trust Issues?

The Happiness Lab

Do you trust your government? Do you trust your neighbors or the strangers you meet on the street? Do you trust the media? Or your teachers? Who we trust is changing. And trust in our institutions and our fellow citizens is in steep decline. That’s according to the World Happiness Report. Who we trust can have a huge impact on our behavior and our happiness.

So what’s behind the dramatic changes in how we trust? And can we learn to trust in a smarter way? We ask advice from Rachel Botsman, the Trust Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and author of How to Trust and Be Trusted.