Sharing meals with friends and family can be enjoyable, but for many of us, this is more of an occasional treat than an everyday occurrence.
The World Happiness Report 2025 suggests that dining alone is not good for your wellbeing, and that people who eat together frequently with others are a lot happier.
It also found big differences globally in the way we share meals. In some countries, citizens share almost all their meals, while in others, residents almost exclusively eat alone.
Sharing meals has been shown to have significant benefits for your quality of life
The report found that communal dining can boost wellbeing. People regularly dining collectively reported higher levels of life satisfaction and lower levels of negativity than those who ate alone.
Plus, in the countries with the highest prevalence of shared eating, evidence also pointed to higher levels of social support and lower levels of loneliness.
This is the first time the World Happiness Report has gathered evidence around meal sharing, using data from 142 countries and territories collected in 2022 and 2023.
Latin America and the Caribbean are at the forefront of meal sharing, with residents sharing approximately nine meals a week. Meanwhile, South Asia is at the lower end with citizens eating fewer than four meals together each week.
Interestingly, North America doesn’t feature in the top 10, while Europe barely scrapes in, with Iceland residents sharing around 10 meals a week.
What are the benefits of shared meals?
The report cites a range of reviews into shared meals. One found that adolescents eating regularly with family had:
- Better dietary and nutritional habits
- Lower levels of obesity
- Fewer eating disorders
- Greater academic achievements.
Meanwhile, a study in China found that sharing meals with others was associated with lower rates of depression.
The report also highlights a gender divide in the notion of shared eating. In general, men report much lower levels of negative affect than women. And it seems that women are also more prone to feeling the impacts of isolated eating.
Women who often dined alone reported more negative feelings than those who regularly dined with others.
Although men reported similar feelings, the differences were smaller.
Age is also a factor. Younger people gave much more positive life evaluations than older people if they dined with others.
It also seems that eating with others not only boosts your emotions, but you are also more likely to enjoy cooking and eating your food more. The more meals we eat with others, the more we enjoy them.
How to realistically fit shared meals into your everyday life
While it’s interesting to see the correlations between shared eating and happiness, how can we incorporate this into our everyday lives?
If you live with family, it can be difficult to coordinate everyone being together for a meal. Younger children may need to eat before adults are home from work, while older children and teenagers are frequently at friend’s houses or have evening activities.
If you live with your partner, work commitments or shift patterns can see you arriving home at different times. If you’re retired it could be a little easier to eat together, but even then, hobbies, activities, voluntary work, and family commitments such as caring for grandchildren all come into play.
But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to share meals occasionally. A little creative planning can help.
Try to:
- Aim for a few times a week, rather than every day. It can be hard to get into a regimented routine of eating together every single evening, so earmark a couple of times a week. It doesn’t have to be the same day or time each week. Just make sure everyone knows what’s expected of them.
- Eat together at a table, rather than with trays on laps in front of the television. Set the table nicely to make it a really pleasurable experience.
- Mix it up with an indoor picnic once in a while, or a barbecue outdoors.
- Ban phones and devices. The point of eating together is to get some quality time, so phones need to be left behind.
If you live alone, finding opportunities for shared meals may seem difficult, but there are still a range of things you could try:
- Plan a regular get-together with friends or neighbours, alternating where you meet and how you arrange the catering. You could all bring food to share, or take turns to cook.
- Look out for pop-up dining events in your area. These are temporary eating areas or restaurants open for a limited time, offering an experimental take or themed cuisine. They can be a great way to get out for food with like-minded others.
- Check out community meals in your location. These are often run by councils, churches, or community centres, bringing members of the community together for a shared occasion and meal. Look out for projects like FoodCycle, which can help you pinpoint a community meal near you.
Life can be busy. But we all need a happiness boost occasionally, so getting together with friends, family, or neighbours, sharing food and socialising, is worth making the time for.
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Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.