Overview

• The PLOS One paper analyzes more than 10 million U.S. CDC responses from 1993–2024 and UK Household Longitudinal Study data from 2009–2023, finding no midlife peak in ill-being.
• Global Minds data on nearly 2 million people across 44 countries from 2020–2025 similarly indicate the hump has disappeared worldwide.
• Researchers report little change in distress among people in their late 40s and older, with rising ill-being concentrated among younger cohorts.
• The authors cite possible drivers—economic scarring from the Great Recession, COVID-19 effects, underfunded services, and social media use—while stressing the causes remain unclear.
• The shift is strongest in high‑income English‑speaking countries and weaker in some African regions; in Tanzania, young people without internet access reported higher happiness than those with access.