See America's loneliness and disconnection—charted.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year

Analysts attribute Finland's joy factor to its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among factors. The results were based on answers from roughly 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories. Respondents were asked to rank their life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. Finnish respondents gave an average life satisfaction score of 7.7; Afghans answered 1.4. The US, in 23rd place, reported an average score of 6.8.

1 in 5 American adults report daily loneliness

Twenty percent of US adults said they felt lonely "a lot of the day yesterday" in Gallup polling conducted in 2024. The survey was conducted with more than 6,000 adults who took part in a web survey.

Explore this animated story about loneliness that situates modern statistics about isolation.

See who Americans spend time with over their lives

Time with friends peaks in the teens and falls sharply by the 30s, while time with coworkers dominates middle age. After retirement, both nearly vanish, and time spent alone climbs steadily to nearly 8 hours a day by age 80.

We may never know if Americans are now lonelier than ever before due to limited data

Formal data collection on loneliness is recent, limiting historical comparisons from before the year 2000. That means statements about how people are more lonely than ever before are difficult to prove or disprove.

How life ranks in South Korea

As South Korea developed over the last half of the 20th century, quality of life soared. The country now outperforms the world average when it comes to education, health, and civic engagement, according to the OECD’s Better Life Index. In this dashboard, you can see where South Korea ranks in terms of housing, jobs, income, and more, and compare it against other developed countries.

See the UCLA Loneliness Scale, often used to measure global loneliness

This 20-question survey, first established in the late 1970s and subsequently revised and often adapted, aims to measure the subjective experience of loneliness. Respondents rate various items on a scale of 1 (Never) to 4 (Often). One revision of the test (not included here) offers an abbreviated three-question version that focuses on how often you feel companionship, left out, and isolated.

Explore an interactive map showing what makes people happy.

Using 10,000 responses collected from people around the world about what makes them happy, this map offers insights into how relationships, finances, purpose, and small treats all contribute to a person's contentment. Recent data suggests that young people today are less happy than those in previous generations, indicating a need to reflect on what really matters in life.

See how anxiety disorder rates vary across 200+ countries, with Portugal, Malta, Brazil, and Iran reporting the highest burdens.

Governments around the world are struggling to measure loneliness

Funding for policy resources often hinges on measuring the scale of a problem and then being able to measure the effectiveness of interventions, requiring data. Yet defining and measuring loneliness at a country-scale remains challenging. Typically, the University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale is sometimes used worldwide or adapted to measure loneliness.

A report on social well-being around the world

This extensive report provides quantitative evidence on social well-being trends for 36 countries. Data cover demography and family characteristics, employment and wealth, mobility and housing, health status, social expenditure, subjective...

The United States ranks 32nd globally in religious diversity, though it ranks first among the ten most populous nations.

Mapping Claude's relative usage worldwide, led by Israel, Singapore, and the US

According to Anthropic's AI Usage Index, the US leads in total users, but Israel and Singapore have higher adoption rates among their working populations. Excluding nations with insufficient numbers of conversations for analysis, Tanzania and Angola rank last in the index.

The countries with the highest wealth per person, ranked

When looking at countries with the highest average wealth per person, the United States comes in at number three (with $564,862 per person). But the US doesn't even make the top 10 when looking at the median wealth per person rather than the average, which is perhaps a more accurate version of the data. Explore the numbers here.

Roughly 75% of Americans report feeling okay financially

Since 2022, fewer Americans report feeling worse off financially, moving from 35% in 2022 to 28% in 2025. Likewise, the number of Americans who reported feeling better about the economy is up 4% from 2022. More than 90% of Americans cite price increases as their biggest financial concern.

America's happiest cities in 2023

WalletHub analyzed 180 cities using thirty indicators—like depression rate and average leisure time—to rank each city by the happiness of its residents. Check out the list to see how your city ranks.

Americans are historically more supportive of free speech than people in most other countries

A 2016 survey of 38 countries found that the US scored highest in support for free expression, with 71% of Americans saying people should be able to say what they want without government censorship, more than in any other nation surveyed.

Which countries have the fastest internet speeds?

Ever wonder about how fast internet speeds are around the world? Take a look at this graphic which lists out the countries with the highest mobile internet speeds in 2023. Countries in the Middle East and East Asia dominate the list while America lags behind in eighteenth place. Learn more about why a high-income country like the US fall behind in speed, and why other countries are internet powerhouses.

The United States currently ranks number one for countries that enable the most financial secrecy

Financial secrecy refers to complex systems that make it easy for people and companies to hide assets. High levels of financial secrecy are associated with illegal activity, like drug trafficking and money laundering. Lax regulations around reporting who owns trusts, real estate, and businesses impact the United States' global financial secrecy ranking.

Data indicates a strong concentration of religious people live in the American South

The Northeast and West Coast tend to be less religious. Mississippi is the most religious state, with 50% of adults classified as highly religious. Vermont is the least religious at 13%.

Measuring which nation has the most baseball fans

It's known as America's pastime, but just how devoted are Americans to baseball? FiveThirtyEight outlines several metrics indicating Puerto Rico may have the most devoted fanbase. See how they used an adjusted metric to rank the world's biggest...

The US lags behind other developed countries in math and science scores

The Programme for International Student Assessment, administered every three years by the OECD to 15-year-olds, scores US students below the OECD average in math (465 vs. 472) and only slightly above average in science (499 vs. 485). These figures place US pupils in the lower half of developed nations.

See the religious breakdown of your state and how it compares to the rest of the country.

The Pew Research Center conducted a survey of religion across all 50 states and Washington, DC. This data visualization allows you to select any state to see how religious it is compared to the rest of the country.

As of 2025, about 9 in 10 Americans use the internet daily

Polling finds that while most Americans have home broadband and smartphones, digital divides persist. Young adults, Hispanic adults, and lower-income households are significantly less likely to subscribe to home broadband and more likely to rely on smartphones as their primary means of internet access.

Check out America's happiest places to live

Where are the best overall places to live in the US? This list focused on finding the happiest towns in America, given the ongoing reconsideration of how people want to live and work in the post-pandemic world. The selection process involved...

Poverty rates by US state

As of 2022, 37.9 million people in the US were living in poverty. But those people aren't evenly distributed among the 50 states. Some states and regions of the country are more impoverished than others. For instance, US poverty rates are relatively higher in the South than they are in the North. See the state-by-state breakdown with this map.

40% of Americans polled by Pew Research Center felt pessimistic about marriage

Black and Asian respondents reported more pessimism about marriage than white or Hispanic respondents. Over half of Republicans feel negatively about the future of marriage, while only 25% of Democrats felt the same.

View a map of AI adoption rates around the world through Q1 2026, led by the United Arab Emirates (70.1%), Singapore (63.4%), and Norway (48.6%).

25% of US households had no regular income as of 2024

Some states had higher shares of no-income households than others: West Virginia, for instance, had a national high of 34% of households with no income. These states tend to have older populations, higher rates of disability, and lower median incomes overall. In such contexts, a larger portion of households rely on non-earned income sources or report no income during the survey period.

Many countries, like Iceland and Norway, offer pensions to elderly citizens

Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway offer some of the highest annual pension payouts at over 30,000 euros. The below chart shows how European nations stack up in terms of which offer the highest annual pension payouts.

The British government established a minister for loneliness in 2018

Tracey Crouch was appointed to this new position after the country's prime minister created the unprecedented job to tackle the country's loneliness issues. Survey data suggests that about 14% of the population—9 million people—often or always felt lonely in Britain at the time (in 2018).

Americans think being informed is a priority for voting, but don't prioritize reading the news.

Who owns America's wealth?

This visualization breaks down the total net worth of all US households by wealth percentile, listing the number of households in each percentile. As you'll see in the graphic, the total net worth of all US households is close to $160T, and the richer half of the country owns roughly 98% of it. Check out the visual here.

Japan has a government office dedicated to tackling loneliness and isolation

The new government office was established in 2021, following the UK's example. It's designed to combat loneliness and the feelings that can proceed suicides. The office's homepage features a chatbot designed to help individuals answer questions and specifically connect with one of 150 support programs.

The best countries for work-life balance, ranked

New Zealand is number one, with universal healthcare and 26 weeks of paid maternity leave.

35% of polled Americans said they'd view people differently if they knew they had a mental illness.

View the countries with the most internet users, including 94% of those in high-income nations

As of 2025, the four most populous nations—China, India, the US, and Indonesia—are also the ones with the most internet users, collectively accounting for almost half of the 6.04 billion internet users worldwide. This suggests that population size, rather than adoption rate, is a better predictor of online activity.

See the religious breakdown of the US from 2007 to 2024.

The wealthiest Americans own the vast majority of the stock market

Recent data from the Federal Reserve shows that the richest people in America own 93% of all the country's stock—the highest level ever recorded. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans held just 1% of all stocks.

People who feel connected to nature also report a higher well-being

Based on data collected from over 38,000 participants across 75 countries, spending time appreciating Earth's beauty appears to increase one's satisfaction with life. Whether it's a hike in the woods, a dip in the ocean, or time spent watching the sunset, the findings held true across a wide range of economic, cultural, and environmental contexts. The findings also indicate that connection to nature fosters experiences of being present and attentive, which are strongly linked to mental health.

Relationships between countries have become more peaceful since the rules-based order was established

Our World in Data monitors bilateral relationships on a spectrum from open rivalry to "positive peace"—deep cooperation and mutual protection. In 1945, no countries had highly cooperative security relationships. Today, nearly a fifth do.

Average retirement savings by state

Connecticut residents have the highest average retirement savings per person at $634K, according to data from the retirement plan provider Empower. On average across all states, Americans have saved $498K for retirement. This graphic shows the top ten states with the highest average retirement savings per person. See who came in second to Connecticut here.

The most taxed states in America

Some states in the US have higher taxes than others. Hawaii, for instance, has the highest total tax burden in the country at 13.9%, whereas Alaska has the lowest overall tax burden at 4.9%. New York has the highest individual income tax burden; and eight states have no individual income tax. See a map of the most-taxed US states here.

China is now viewed more favorably than the US in a majority of 36 countries surveyed this year.

Visualizing the world's wealth in 2019

The world has a net worth of $360T. The U.S. economy continues to dominate given its sheer size, Asia and Europe are not that far behind.

Americans showed an unprecedented surge of patriotism after 9/11

In the weeks following 9/11, 79% of US adults reported displaying the American flag, and a year later, 62% said they "often felt patriotic" due to the attacks.

How many Americans receive government assistance?

In 2022, nearly half of all American children—and roughly one in three Americans overall—were enrolled in at least one government assistance program. Those programs provide support for people who cannot afford healthcare, food, housing, or other needs. Find out more about the number of Americans receiving government assistance here.

Marriage rates are declining, especially in the richest countries

89% of the world’s population now live in countries with falling rates. Increasing costs of living, the financial burden of starting a family, and the rise of secularism are some of the key factors reducing marriage rates among the less affluent.

See a breakdown of every state's portion of the entire US gross domestic product.

Meet the hidden Americans

Who represents America? This stunning interactive photo essay by Dutch artist Robin de Puy reveals a world many in the mainstream US do not see. She traveled thousands of miles to document the stories of individuals across the country, compiling them in dozens of episodes spread across three parts, revealing the messy nuances of everyday life for everyday people. Search the index or click through episode to episode in this spectacular project.