People sharing meals

People sharing meals

People who share more meals with others are more likely to report higher levels of life satisfaction and well-being, finds research led by a UCL academic for the World Happiness report.

In chapter three of the report,,Share meals with othersThe researchers from UCL, University of Oxford, Harvard University and Gallup found that food release as an indicator of self-reported well-being corresponds to income and employment status. The results resonate across all age groups, genders, countries, cultures and regions.

Overall, the researchers found that countries where people share meals tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction. Compared to people who dine alone, those who always share lunch and dinner report, on average, an extra point in their life ratings on a scale from 0 (worst life) to 10 (best life), which the researchers say is a wide gap. For comparison, if UK residents reported one additional life classification point in the UK, Britain would be the second happiest country in the world (this is currently Denmark after Finland). This pattern holds true even when looking at people in the same country and even after controlling for age, income or living arrangements.

The researchers say how often someone shares meals is as strong an indicator of life satisfaction and positive emotions as their income band, and may reveal more about their well-being than knowing whether they are unemployed.

Co-author of the chapter Dr. Alberto Prati (UCL Arts & Humanities) said: "This is the first time that data on meal sharing has been collected and analyzed on a global scale. We already knew how important social connections are for well-being, but we were surprised by the strength of the association of food with positive life evaluations and feelings."

The team used data from the Gallup World survey, which asked over 150,000 respondents about their well-being and frequency of sharing meals with people they know over the past week. The data was collected from 142 countries in 2022 and 2023.

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean reported sharing the highest number of meals and sharing nearly two-thirds of lunches and dinners (nine meals) in a seven-day week. Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand came in second, sharing an average of just over eight meals per week. In contrast, countries in South Asia reported sharing fewer than four lunches and dinners over a week, while East Asia reported sharing nearly six per week. People in the UK shared an average of 7.5 lunches and dinners per week and made an average of 4.2 dinners and 3.3 lunches.

The authors used the United States as a case study to examine the recent development of meal sharing. To do this, they used data from the American Time Use Survey from 2003 to 2023 and analyzed trends in socializing and dining in the United States. People in the U.S. are more likely to be alone now than they were 20 years ago, and young people are more likely to share fewer meals with friends and family.

The authors speculate that this may be associated with long-lasting trends in changes in social structure over time and an overall decline in social capital—the community cohesion and connections to others that make up a functioning society—in the United States.

In particular, the researchers found that the number of Americans alone is increasing. 26% of American adults reported eating all of their meals the day before alone, increasing by over 50% since 2003. Adults over 65 are more likely to be alone, although rates for people under 35 alone have increased with imposter rates. Researchers speculate that the recent acceleration from early 2020 may be due to forced changes in social behavior following the pandemic.

We believe these results have useful policy implications and highlight the number of shared meals as a promising but understandable benchmark for social research. “

Dr. Alberto Prati, UCL Arts & Humanities

The World Happiness report is published by the Wellbeing Research Center at the University of Oxford in collaboration with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Network and an independent editorial board.

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