Researchers found that shared meals as a self-reported indicator of well-being was on par with income and employment status.
People who share more meals with others are more likely to report higher levels of life satisfaction and well-being.
That's according to research led by a University of California professor for the World Happiness Report.
In a third chapter of the report, titled "Sharing Meals with Other People," researchers from UCL, Oxford University, Harvard University and Gallup found that shared meals as an indicator of self-rated well-being was on par with income and employment status. The findings are valid across ages, genders, countries, cultures and regions.
Overall, the researchers found that countries where people share meals more often tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction. Compared to people who eat alone, those who always share lunch and dinner reported, on average, an extra point in their life evaluation on a scale from 0 (worst possible life) to 10 (best possible life). According to the researchers, that's a big difference.
By comparison, if UK residents reported an extra point in their life evaluation, the kingdom would be the second happiest country in the world. At the moment it's Denmark, behind Finland. This pattern also holds when looking at people within the same country and even after accounting for age, income or living conditions.
The researchers say that how often someone shares their meals is as strong an indicator of their levels of life satisfaction and positive emotions as their income bracket, and can reveal more about their wellbeing than information about whether they are unemployed.
"This is the first time data on shared meals has been collected and analysed globally. We already knew how important social connections are for wellbeing, but we were surprised by the strength of the link between sharing meals and positive life evaluations and emotions," said chapter co-author Dr Alberto Prati (UCL Arts & Humanities).
The team used data from the Gallup World Poll, in which over 150,000 respondents were asked about their well-being and the frequency of sharing meals with acquaintances in the past week. Data was collected from 142 countries in 2022 and 2023.
Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean reported the highest number of meals shared within a week. They share almost two-thirds of lunches and dinners (9 meals). Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand are second, sharing an average of just over 8 meals per week. In contrast, South Asian countries report sharing less than 4 lunches and dinners per week, while East Asian countries share almost 6 meals per week. People in the UK shared an average of 7.5 lunch and dinner meals per week. The average was 4.2 dinners and 3.3 lunches.
The authors use the US as an example to examine the recent evolution of shared meals. To do so, they used data from the American Time Use Survey and analyzed trends in meal sharing and self-reported meal eating in the US from 2003 to 2023.
People in the US are currently more likely to eat alone than they were 20 years ago. According to the researchers, this is due to the fact that young people are more likely to share fewer meals with friends and family.
The authors suggest that this may be related to long-term trends associated with changes in social structure over time and a general decline in social capital - the community cohesion and connections with others that form a functioning society - in the United States.
Researchers note in particular the rise in the number of Americans who are eating alone. Twenty-six percent of American adults reported eating alone in the previous day, an increase of more than 50% since 2003. Adults over 65 are more likely to eat alone, although the percentage of those under 35 eating alone has increased at a sharper rate since 2018. The researchers suggest that the recent acceleration, from the early 2020s onwards, may be due to forced changes in social behaviour following the pandemic.
"We think these findings have useful policy implications and highlight the number of shared meals as a promising but understudied comparative index for social research," Dr Prathy said.
The World Happiness Report is published by Oxford University's Centre for Research on Wellbeing in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board. | BGNES