Gen Z is facing “the equivalent of a midlife crisis” and they are becoming less happy than older generations, a global study has revealed. The World Happiness Report, which was released on Wednesday, revealed that United States is out of the top 20 happiest countries, falling to 23rd place. It also said that young people under the age of 30 now rank 62nd out of 143 countries for happiness, while US adults age 60 and above are ranked 10th. This particular statistic has caused concern among healthcare experts, with America’s top surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy blaming social media for it.

“Allowing children to use social media is like giving them medicine that is not proven to be safe,” Dr Murthy told The Guardia. He added that the failure of governments to regulate social media was “insane”.

The doctor said that adolescents in the US were spending nearly five hours a day on social media and a third were staying up until midnight on week nights on their devices. He called for legislation “now” to reduce harms to young people from social media including limiting or eliminating features such as like buttons and infinite scrolling.

The World Happiness report is an annual barometre of well-being in 140 countries that is coordinated by Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Centre, Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

For over a decade, it had shown that younger people were happier than their elders. But this switched in 2017 and by 2024, the US is out of the top 20 list of happiest nations.

Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Wellbeing Research Centre and editor of the study, said the report showed “disconcerting drops in youth happiness, especially in North America and Western Europe”.

“To think that in some parts of the world children are already experiencing the equivalent of a midlife crisis, demands immediate policy action,” he added.

British people under 30 ranked 32nd in the rankings, behind nations such as Moldova, Kosovo and even El Salvador.

Young Chinese people have recently developed an appetite for gold products and are increasingly purchasing ‘gold beans’ as a safe investment amid economic uncertainty. These pill-like beans only weigh approximately one gram and are priced between 400 and 600 RMB (Rs 5,209 and 7,814) per unit. The Straits Times reported that these beans have particularly become very popular among China’s Generation Z and buying a gold bean every month has become a newfound trend. 

Notably, gold is one of the most solid and popular investments in human history. Traditionally, China’s middle-aged and elderly were the primary consumers of gold, but now, Gen Z is also moving towards these products and seeing them as viable long-term investments. The primary reason is the relatively affordable price and accessibility, and the fact that gold has historically performed well under macroeconomic uncertainties, Jing Daily reported. 

”Little one-gram beans of gold are particularly attractive to Gen Z customers, while young couples and middle-class women prefer gold bars – the 10-gram and 50-gram bars are especially popular,” Fred Qiu, a business-development manager for a jewellery brand in eastern China told South China Morning Post. 

A lack of faith in traditional investment is another cause behind the gold rush. In 2023, China’s leading e-commerce platforms Tmall and Taobao revealed that the primary consumers of gold jewelry are those born after the 1990s. Another survey revealed that 70% of consumers aged between 18 and 40 intend to purchase pure gold jewellery. 

Gold has also yielded an annualized return of 5.8 per cent over the past three decades, and the global spot prices for gold hit all-time highs late last year, signaling its status as a reliable investment. 

”Among the uncertainties, both economically and politically, gold is becoming more credible than other domestic assets, whether it’s property or stock. I can understand why there are still so many people buying it,” Guangzhou resident Annie Fang said. 

Sales of gold, silver and jewellery reached a six-year high in December 2023, a 29.4 per cent year-on-year jump, according to government data. According to Reuters, analysts expect Chinese demand for gold to remain high as economic growth grinds lower in coming years and foreign investment outflows weigh on the yuan. 

“Incomes are not appreciating, real estate is not appreciating, the stock market is not appreciating. Gold is a little bit of a unicorn in this environment,” said Jacques Roizen, managing director of consulting at Digital Luxury Group in Shanghai.

China and India, the world’s two biggest gold buyers, together account for more than half of total global demand.