A report suggests family connection, unprocessed food and distance from smartphones is the recipe for positive mental wellbeing. Photo / 123rf

Report reveals countries with best mental well-being. Where does NZ rank?

Lifestyle

Author: Sarah Pollok,
Publish Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2024, 3:43PM

If you’d like a happier life, it’s not a bad idea to look at the countries whose citizens score highly on reports of these emotions, to see how they do life.

According to an annual global report, if you’re after mental wellbeing and a flourishing life, you should pay attention to those who live in the Dominican Republic, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Panama.

These countries have topped the list of destinations with the best mental health in the fourth Annual Mental State of the World Report; a study by Sapien Labs that measures mental wellbeing.

The report assigned 71 countries a mental wellbeing metric according to a comprehensive survey of cognitive and emotional capabilities, of which more than 500,000 responses were collected.

After analysing the results, Sapien Labs found certain continents tended to score more highly than others.

“Several African and Latin American countries topped the country rankings, while wealthier countries of the core Anglosphere, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, are towards the bottom,” the report stated.

This isn’t the first time this split has been observable either, as previous years’ reports have had similar results.

“This pattern suggests that greater wealth and economic development do not necessarily lead to greater mental wellbeing,” the report continued.

New Zealand ranked 52nd, beating Australia, which was placed 66th and was the sixth-lowest-ranked country.

Why are African and Latin Americans flourishing?

During the pandemic, the phrase “languishing” became popular as a way to describe the world’s general malaise.

The opposite of this is “flourishing”, which describes not only having no mental illnesses but positive mental health.

So, why are African and Latin American countries flourishing relative to Anglo-Saxon countries?

The answer, according to Sapien Labs, is because internet-enabled populations in wealthy countries are also likely to have youth on smartphones, ultra-processed food and weak social ties; three factors that have been linked to poor mental health.

Family ties crucial for mental wellbeing

Science has long proven the correlation between happiness, mental wellbeing and community.

“Social connectedness is a key driver of wellbeing and resilience,” states the Ministry of Social Development website.

“Socially well-connected people and communities are happier and healthier, and are better able to take charge of their lives and find solutions to the problems they are facing.”

According to Sapien Labs, adults’ risk of mental health challenges is four times lower if you have close family relationships - but wealthier countries were least likely to say they were close with many adult family members, at just 23 per cent.

Food and technology also issues

Similarly, there is a strong body of research on the impact of processed food and a growing number of studies around technology use.

“We found that over half of those who eat ultra-processed food daily are distressed or struggling with their mental wellbeing, compared to just 18 per cent of those who rarely or never consume ultra-processed food,” the report stated. This is almost a three-fold increase.

Meanwhile, a sample of almost 28,000 survey respondents found that 18- to 24-year-olds’ mental health was strongly impacted by how young they were when they got their first smartphone.

“In countries that are generally at the top of the list in this report, and less developed countries in general, the average age that young people first own a smartphone is typically older,” the report stated.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, it’s 16 years old, 14-15 in Latin America and 11 in the core Anglosphere.