Released this week, the 2024 World Happiness Report paints a worrisome picture of the mental state of young people in English-speaking countries, especially here in North America.

Welcome to the 58^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a decluttering challenge for the week. In addition to the World Happiness Report, this week’s edition looks at the cost of loneliness, the 2023 Air Quality Index, the environmental promise of white paint, and decluttering accessories.

On my mind this week: World Happiness Report

This week, the 2024 World Happiness Report was released to mark International Day of Happiness on March 20. In this year’s report, Canada ranked in 15^th place overall, down from our 13^th place ranking last year. Compared to English-speaking countries that I consider Canada’s peers, we’re holding our own. Australia ranks in 10^th place, and the U.K. in 20^th. This year, the USA fell out of the top 20 to 23^rd place.

For the first time, this year’s World Happiness Report delved into happiness among different age groups. It paints a worrisome picture about the mental state of younger generations in English-speaking countries—especially here in North America.

In the Under 30 age group, Canada ranked an abysmal 58^th. Australia and the U.K. did better, ranking 19^th and 32^nd respectively. Canada’s closest neighbours, the United States, ranked 62^nd.

What’s especially distressing is the gap between the happiness of the young and the old. In the 60+ age group, Canada ranked 8^th, Australia 9^th, and the United States 10^th. In the U.K., this older age group ranked 20^th—more consistent with their ranking for the younger age group.

Country	Overall ranking	Ranking for Under 30 age group	Ranking for 60+ age group
Canada	15	58	8
U.K.	20	32	20
Australia	10	19	9
U.S.A.	23	62	10

Interestingly, the World Happiness Report ranked Finland number one overall. The gap between the under 30 group (7^th place) and the over 60 group (2^nd place) was much smaller. Perhaps we need to put our egos aside and see what we can learn from that tiny Scandinavian country.

Telling young people to work harder is not the answer

It’s clear that we have created an environment where the young feel they can’t thrive. Considering the state of our planet, high levels of student debt, housing costs that have made home ownership—and even renting—unaffordable, and an increasingly divisive political climate, is it any wonder?

Many people my age say “young people today” are entitled and not willing to work. As a mom of two hard-working young adult daughters, I disagree! I’m also fortunate enough to work with a lot of terrific young people. Why is their outlook so different?

I entered the workforce during a major recession and in an era of double-digit interest rates. Times were tough. I worked hard and often struggled to make ends meet. When I compare my life then to the lives of today’s young people, there’s a big difference. I truly believed I could work hard and make a good life for myself. There was a light at the end of the tunnel—a reward for my hard work.

Today’s young people no longer see that light. They no longer feel that hard work will get them anywhere close to the standard of living their parents took for granted. They’re not wrong.

As a simple example, the rent for my first one-bedroom apartment was $180 a month. At the time, I was earning just under $20,000 a year. If you’re lucky enough to find one, an equivalent one-bedroom apartment today costs between $1,500 and $2,000 a month. How many people in their 20s are earning between $150,000 and $200,000?

I generally try to keep a positive outlook, but this report made gave me reason to be concerned about our collective future. We need to do better and create a world where our young people can thrive!

Let’s make our votes count

It’s election year in the United States, and possibly here in Canada too. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone put their self-interest aside and voted for candidates with policies that will address this growing disparity between the young and the old? Even better, wouldn’t it be wonderful if our young people used their collective voice and got involved in the political process? There are enough of them to impact the outcome of our elections.

The need for change is urgent! Because I don’t want to live in a country where the young feel they have no future.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• I enjoyed my few days in Arizona, even if I couldn’t get a Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day. My meetings went well, and I had a chance to catch up with friends and colleagues. I arrived home safely on Tuesday evening and even had an empty seat next to me on the flight home.
• Thursday evening was week 5 of the Alpha Course. Our small group had a fascinating discussion on this week’s topic—prayer.
• On Friday, I had lunch and spent the afternoon with my mum and my three sisters. By the time this post goes live, my sister Angela will be back in England. It was lovely to have some time together.

Three things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

The cost of loneliness

Last weekend, I attended a talk by Dr. Jeremy Nobel, author of Project UnLonely. Dr. Nobel revealed some startling facts about the social and economic cost of loneliness, especially in the 18-28 age group. Read more about what I learned in my latest post for Wise & Shine.

Air quality in Canada

Ask anyone in Canada and they’ll probably tell you that 2023 was not a good year for air quality, largely thanks to the worst wildfire season in history. The 2023 World Air Quality Report confirms that, for the first time ever, Canada’s air quality was worse than our neighbour to the south, the USA.

Let’s hope for a better summer in 2024, although early signs indicate we could be in for another tough wildfire season.

The environmental promise of white paint

I’m feeling a bit like Debbie Downer today, so let’s wrap things up on a more positive note. When I need a little boost, I can always depend on the good folks at Happy Eco News to deliver.

Engineers at Purdue University have created the world’s whitest paint that reflects more than 98% of sunlight. Applying this paint to urban building rooftops could decrease the temperature of our cities by over 2°C. It could also reduce air conditioning requirements by up to 30%.

This week’s decluttering challenge – accessories

In 2024, I’ve been revisiting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge I completed in 2021. This week’s challenge was accessories—jewellery, belts and scarves. I decluttered just 4 items this week. You can find the details, along with my tips and learnings, in this week’s decluttering post.

If you’d like to join the challenge, visit this post to download your free checklists and jump right in with this week’s task.

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.