Hi

Viewing archives for The Future Of Wellbeing

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.

The C-WELLBY: Towards a Universal Measure of Children’s Wellbeing for Policy Analysis


Isaac Parkes

Abstract

There is a pressing need for a universal measure of children’s wellbeing, parallel to the WELLBY, for use in cost-benefit analysis. Currently, there is no consensus on how to value the wellbeing of children, raising concerns that their welfare is being undervalued in policy decisions. In this report, we discuss the issues inherent in measuring children’s wellbeing and investigate a policy-oriented solution: the C-WELLBY. Children aged 10 and above generally demonstrate stable, valid responses to evaluative life satisfaction questions, as evidenced by analyses of both Understanding Society and the Active Lives of Children and Young People Survey. Consequently, we recommend the use of WELLBYs, valued at the usual £15,920 in 2024 prices (HMT, 2021), for cost-benefit analyses of policy affecting this age group. For children aged below 10, we recommend estimating a C-WELLBY, also valued at £15,920.

Covid ‘benevolence bump’ endures as acts of kindness 10% higher than before 2020

The Guardian

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, the director of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre and an editor of the World Happiness Report, said: “This year’s report pushes us to look beyond traditional determinants like health and wealth.

“It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are even stronger predictors of wellbeing than expected. In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again – doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing.”

Wellbeing Research Centre welcomes leading sustainable wellbeing scholars

In partnership with Reapra, the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford has welcomed a pair of world-class researchers to spearhead its emerging research stream in sustainable wellbeing.

Paul Behrens (Reapra Senior Research Fellow) and Annegeke Jansen (Reapra Research Associate) join the Centre’s team of interdisciplinary researchers to examine long-term questions around human wellbeing and environmental sustainability.

Their appointments are supported by Asia-based venture builder and investment group Reapra, whose mission is to co-create industries for the betterment of society through research and practice.

Paul Behrens is the British Academy Global Professor at the Oxford Martin School, whose research focuses on the environmental and social impacts of large-scale food system transformation. He is also the author of the popular science book, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science (Indigo Press, 2021) and winner of the inaugural Frontiers Planet Prize.

Annegeke Jansen is currently a PhD candidate at Leiden University, focusing on the measurement of sustainable and inclusive wellbeing as part of the WISE Horizons project. In addition, she investigates determinants and historical developments related to wellbeing.

The pair have previously collaborated on major contributions to the Beyond GDP movement, published in The Lancet Planetary Health and Nature Scientific Data.

“It is critical to turn our attention to the notion of sustainable wellbeing.”

Paul Behrens, Reapra Senior Research Fellow, said: “I’m delighted to be collaborating at the critical intersection of human wellbeing and environmental sustainability. It is essential that we work towards improving wellbeing while both reducing our environmental impacts and dealing with environmental damage. Interdisciplinary collaboration with the Centre’s diverse, world-leading team is incredibly exciting.”

Annegeke Jansen, Reapra Research Associate, said: “I’m excited to join the Wellbeing Research Centre to explore the deep connections between human wellbeing and environmental sustainability. In a world facing ecological breakdown and growing inequalities, it’s crucial to rethink what truly supports flourishing lives—now and in the future. I look forward to working with the Centre’s interdisciplinary team and learning from their renowned expertise in wellbeing research.”

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at Saïd Business School, Oxford, and Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre, said: “With the appointment of Paul and Annegeke we gain the expertise of two leading scholars who are building bridges between the academic fields focussed on sustainability and subjective wellbeing. If our aim is to advance the wellbeing of current and future generations then it is critical to turn our attention to the notion of sustainable wellbeing.

“We are tremendously grateful to our like-minded colleagues at Reapra who have made these fellowships possible and we look forward to our partnership generating tangible insights that will hopefully underpin policy action in due course.”

Laura Lynn Lee, Growth & Wellbeing Catalyst at Reapra, said: “This is indeed an exciting time for Reapra as we welcome Paul and Annegeke to our research and practice community. We look forward to learning together with them and Jan’s team at the Wellbeing Research Centre as we co-create Reapra’s vision of long-term wellbeing for the next generation.”

Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward

Most of us spend a third of our waking lives at work. Work shapes our schedules, relationships, identities, and economies – but is it actually making us happy?

This crucial question is explored in depth by leading Oxford researchers George Ward and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, who provide the richest, most comprehensive picture of workplace wellbeing yet.

In Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters, the authors clarify what workplace wellbeing is (and is not) and offer a framework for how businesses can approach and improve it. Drawing on extensive, large-scale data – including the world’s largest dataset on employee wellbeing, gathered in partnership with the jobs platform Indeed – the book reveals the remarkable ways in which wellbeing at work varies across workers, occupations, companies, and industries.

The authors present new, evidence-based insights into the origins of workplace wellbeing and how businesses can enhance the employee experience. Drawing on work from multiple academic disciplines, they show that workplace wellbeing encompasses both how we think about our work as a whole and how we feel while doing it. Their research demonstrates that improving wellbeing can boost productivity, aid in talent retention and recruitment, and ultimately improve financial performance.

With in-depth analysis and keen insight, Ward and De Neve debunk myths and test assumptions amidst an often-confusing cacophony of voices on wellbeing at work. Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters provides a firm foundation and indispensable resource for leaders seeking to shape the future of work.

Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters published by HBR Press

Business books: what to read this month

Financial Times

The growth and extent of workplace interventions claiming to improve employee health — from mindfulness to yoga — is enough to cause any manager a headache. But while the costs and the uptake of programmes have surged, the evidence for their effectiveness has not.

The authors, two Oxford-based academics, guide readers through confusion over definitions, data, causes and outcomes in a field that remains poorly researched, and overcrowded with assertions that are far from rigorous.

They have done some of the best analysis in the field seeking to understand the drivers of wellbeing, and its links to productivity. Pay and flexibility in employee location are important, according to this book. But the writers also suggest a sense of belonging, the ability to achieve goals, and genuine trust between colleagues, are even more effective in keeping us happy at work.

World Happiness Report 2025: People are much kinder than we expect, research shows

Belief in the kindness of others is much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to findings published today (20 March) in World Happiness Report 2025.

Global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality. Actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect.

Believing that others are willing to return your lost wallet is also shown to be a strong predictor of population happiness: Nordic nations once again top the ranking of the world’s happiest countries, but they also rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets.

The findings are published today to mark the UN’s International Day of Happiness. They are powered by Gallup World Poll data and other sources, including the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll, and analysed by leading experts in wellbeing science.

Further results published in this 13th edition of the World Happiness Report, focused on the theme of “caring and sharing”, include:

  • Sharing meals with others is strongly linked with wellbeing across all global regions, but the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.
  • Household size is closely linked to happiness. Four to five people living together enjoy the highest levels of happiness in Mexico and Europe, but many people in Europe are living on their own.
  • In 2023, 19% of young adults across the world reported having no one they could count on for social support. This is a 39% increase compared to 2006.
  • Deaths of despair are less frequent in countries where benevolent acts are more frequent.
  • Declining happiness and social trust in the US and parts of Europe combine to explain the rise and direction of political polarisation and anti-system votes.
  • The cost-effectiveness of charities varies dramatically. Some charities are hundreds of times better at increasing happiness per dollar than others.

World Happiness Report 2025 also contains a ranking of the world’s happiest countries. Finland leads the world in happiness for the eighth year in a row, with Finns reporting an average score of 7.736 (out of 10) when asked to evaluate their lives.

Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) both enter the top 10 for the first time, while continued upward trends for countries such as Lithuania (16th), Slovenia (19th) and Czechia (20th) underline the convergence of happiness levels between Eastern, Central and Western Europe.

The United States (24th) falls to its lowest-ever position, with the United Kingdom (23rd) reporting its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report.

Country rankings are based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life. Interdisciplinary experts from economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

These factors help to explain the differences across nations, while the rankings themselves are based solely on the answers people give when asked to rate their own lives.

Lara B. Aknin, professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University, and an editor of the World Happiness Report, said: “Human happiness is driven by our relationships with others. Investing in positive social connections and engaging in benevolent actions are both matched by greater happiness.”

John F. Helliwell, an economist at the University of British Columbia, a founding editor of the World Happiness Report, and a long-time lost wallet researcher, said: “The wallet data are so convincing because they confirm that people are much happier living where they think people care about each other. The wallet dropping experiments confirm the reality of these perceptions, even if they are everywhere too pessimistic.”

Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup, said: “Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back. This year’s report proves we underestimate how kind the world really is. If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.”

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, professor of economics at the University of Oxford, and an editor of the World Happiness Report, said: “This year’s report pushes us to look beyond traditional determinants like health and wealth. It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are even stronger predictors of wellbeing than expected. In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again — doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing.”

Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and a founding editor of the World Happiness Report, said: “The findings in this year’s World Happiness Report reconfirm a fundamental truth: happiness is rooted in trust, kindness, and social connection. It is up to us as virtuous individuals and citizens to translate this vital truth into positive action, thereby fostering peace, civility, and wellbeing in communities worldwide.”

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

The editorial board consists of John F. Helliwell (University of British Columbia), Richard Layard (London School of Economics and Political Science), Jeffrey D. Sachs (Columbia University), Jan-Emmanuel De Neve (University of Oxford), Lara B. Aknin (Simon Fraser University), and Shun Wang (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University).

Read the report in full at worldhappiness.report.

Connecting with others: How social connections improve the happiness of young adults


Rui Pei and Jamil Zaki

Abstract

Young adults across the globe face increasing mental health challenges. Once considered one of the happiest phases of life, young adulthood has taken a troubling turn.Young people in North America and Western Europe now report the lowest wellbeing among all age groups. In fact, World Happiness Report 2024 found that the fall in the United States’ happiness ranking was largely due to a precipitous decline in wellbeing among Americans under 30.

This chapter centres on a key idea that illuminates the problem of low wellbeing among young adults and potential ways to reverse it: happiness is fundamentally social. Across cultures and generations, supportive relationships buoy mental health and happiness. Social ties also buffer people from the toxic effects of stress, reducing the risk that subclinical difficulties will escalate into mood disorders.

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

Any views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation, agency, or program of the United Nations.