**4. United States case study**

Another unique case study within the Gallup World Poll data and the World Happiness Reports is the United States. The United States has seen declining levels of well-being for over a decade despite regular increases in GDP every year. The United States case study demonstrates that past a certain level of wealth, happiness and well-being do not continue to increase. Also, as Latin America reflects the importance of family and social support, the United States demonstrates the importance of family and social support in an inverse manner. Specifically, through the issues of loneliness, fragmented social and family relationships, broken social communities and the rise of addiction and mental illness, one can see the important role that relationships, community and connections play in happiness and wellbeing [10–12].

In the United States, income per person has increased approximately three times since 1960, but happiness and well-being levels have not increased. Most recently, since 2013 per capita GDP has continued to rise but happiness levels have fallen. This is in direct contrast to conventionally held beliefs on the relationship between per capita GDP and wellbeing. It also demonstrates the Easterlin Paradox. The US was ranked 3rd among 23 OECD countries in 2007 for happiness and wellbeing, and fell to 19th of 34 OECD countries in 2016. From 2006 to 2016 the United States level of social support, experience of personal freedom, and amount of charitable donations all declined, while the perception of government and business corruption increased.

These factors point to a reality that the falling happiness, mental health and wellbeing levels in the United States are due to a social, not an economic crisis [10–12].

The data comparing 2006/2007 wellbeing levels demonstrates that repairing social norms and conditions back to 2006/2007 levels would most quickly and reliably create the gains in happiness needed to improve mental health and wellbeing. The issues with social concerns in the United States are not insignificant. Trust in the government is currently at its lowest level in modern history as is the perception of a rise in corruption. Income inequality is at its highest levels in US history with the top 1% experiencing nearly all the gains from economic growth in the last few decades and the lower 50% continuing to experience greater poverty. This phenomenon shows that there is an expanding lower class and a decreasing middle class in the United States. Furthermore, research conducted in the US compared to other countries found that helping behaviors in the US have declined sharply from 2001 to 2011 compared to other developed countries. However, the decline in US happiness levels is not only a social crisis, it is also a health crisis that is being shown in increased mortality rates. This increase in mortality rates is directly associated with drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal ideation, obesity and mental illness [10–12].

Major factors in the United States contribute to the decline in social and family connections, support, loneliness and isolation. These include the rise in addiction and the addiction crisis in the United States. There has been an ongoing crisis with heroin and methamphetamine use, and currently there is a growing fentanyl overdose crisis. During the COVID-pandemic more Americans died every day from drug overdoses than from COVID-19. Addiction leaves not only a potentially lethal crisis for the individual, but also causes severe damage to families, relationships and society as a whole. It leads to higher levels of crime, violence and greater mistrust among people. It harms society on many levels and contributes to the overall decreasing levels of American happiness. The data shows that improving and repairing social conditions is the most effective way to increase and improve US levels of happiness. This may require changes in government policy and cultural values to successfully achieve [10–12].
