People sharing meals with loved ones report higher levels of satisfaction and well-being, according to a study published in the World Happiness Report. The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Researchers from UCL and the University of Oxford found that sharing meals had a similar impact on well-being as having a job. The findings are maintained across all ages, genders, countries, cultures, and regions. Overall, the results showed that countries where people traditionally share meals report higher levels of life satisfaction. Compared to people who eat alone, those who always share lunch and dinners report, on average, one extra point in their life evaluation on a scale from 0 (worst possible life) to 10 (best possible life). By comparison, if UK residents reported one extra life-evaluation point, the UK would be the second happiest country in the world after Finland. This pattern still holds true within the same country, even after accounting for age, income, or living arrangements.
It seems that how often people share meals is a strong indicator of life satisfaction and positive emotions just as much as their income band is. It can reveal more about their well-being than simply knowing if they are working or unemployed. “This is the first time that data on meal sharing has been collected and analysed at a global scale. We already knew how important social connections are for wellbeing, but we were surprised by the strength of the connection of meal sharing with positive life evaluations and emotions,” said Dr Alberto Prati from UCL Arts & Humanities.
For this report, the authors used data from the Gallup World Poll, which, in 2022 and 2023, asked over 150,000 participants about their well-being and the frequency of sharing meals with people they knew during the previous week. Data was collected from 142 countries.
Not surprisingly, countries in South America and the Caribbean reported sharing the highest number of meals in a week, sharing nearly two-thirds of lunches and dinners (nine meals). Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand came second, with, on average, just over eight shared meals a week. In contrast, South Asian countries reported sharing fewer than four meals in a week, while East Asia reported sharing almost six in a week. People in the UK shared 7.5 meals per week, averaging out at 4.2 dinners and 3.3 lunches.
Using the USA to study the evolution of meal sharing, the team collected information from the American Time Use Survey and analysed trends around meal sharing in the USA from 2003 to 2023. People in the USA are now more likely to eat alone than they were 20 years ago, which is driven by the fact that young people are more likely to share fewer meals with family. The authors speculate that this trend is linked to changes in social structure and a decline in community cohesion and connections with others.
The team noted, in particular, an increase in the number of Americans always dining alone, and 26% of American adults now eat all of their meals alone, which was an increase of over 50% since 2003. Adults over 65 are more likely to eat alone, but the rates of those under 35 eating alone is increasing fast. The authors speculate that the recent rise could be attributed to enforced changes in social behaviour after Covid.
“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,” concluded Dr Prati.