People who share meals regularly report higher levels of life satisfaction and well-being, says a new study led by UCL for the World Happiness Report. This research could have significant implications for understanding how social habits impact mental health globally.
In a remarkable discovery, a study led by a University College London academic and published in chapter three of the World Happiness Report has found that people who frequently share mealtimes with others report significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and well-being.
This conclusion emerges from a literature review and data analysis involving over 150,000 participants across 142 countries.
Researchers from UCL, University of Oxford, Harvard University and Gallup revealed that sharing meals is as potent an indicator of someone’s life satisfaction and positive emotions as their income or employment status. This holds true irrespective of age, gender, culture or region, making meal sharing a universal marker of well-being.
“This is the first time that data on meal sharing has been collected and analysed at a global scale,” co-author Alberto Prati, of UCL Arts & Humanities, said in a news release. “We already knew how important social connections are for well-being, but we were surprised by the strength of the connection of meal sharing with positive life evaluations and emotions.”
Using data from the Gallup World Poll collected in 2022 and 2023, the team found that countries where meal sharing is more common reported higher levels of life satisfaction. Latin America and the Caribbean led the way, with residents sharing nearly nine out of 14 possible meals per week. Conversely, in South Asia, people shared fewer than four such meals a week.
The research also documented trends in the United States, showing an alarming rise in loneliness tied to dining habits. From 2003 to 2023, the rates of Americans eating all their meals alone increased by over 50%.
The trend is especially noticeable among younger people, with more individuals under 35 eating alone recently compared to 20 years ago. The researchers suggested that societal changes and the recent pandemic might have driven this shift.
The implications are notable. Regularly sharing meals could form the basis of public health recommendations aimed at enhancing societal well-being.
“We believe that these findings have useful policy implications and highlight the number of shared meals as a promising yet understudied comparative index for social research,”Prati added.
The World Happiness Report, published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, highlights these findings as a critical element of understanding global well-being. As experts continue to explore the link between social habits and mental health, this study emphasizes the profound impact of simple, everyday actions like sharing a meal.
Source: University College London