We are very pleased to present one of Scientific Reports’ latest articles, which delves into the relationship between sharing meals and wellbeing. In this article, researchers included two complementary observational studies: (a) To examine the relationship between meal sharing and subjective wellbeing across countries worldwide, and (b) To investigate trends in meal sharing (especially dining alone) over time in the United States.

Using global (Gallup World Poll) and U.S. (ATUS) survey data, researchers analysed data from the Gallup World Poll, including more than 150,000 people across 142 countries and territories in 2022 and 2023. The study analyzed how often people share meals and associated this with wellbeing measures on the “ladder of life” scale and from the World Happiness Report. The authors next examined USA trends in eating alone from 2003 onwards, comparing wellbeing outcomes between those who shared meals and those who ate alone.

The study found that people who shared more meals reported higher life evaluations, greater positive affect, and lower negative affect. At the country level, one additional shared meal per week was associated with an average increase of around 0.2 points in life evaluation on a 0-10 scale. At the individual level, People who shared one lunch or dinner  with someone they knew had higher average life evaluations than those who ate meals alone.

The researchers also compared the predictive power on wellbeing of meal sharing with established socioeconomic indicators such as income and unemployment. Their analyses indicate that whether people share meals or eat alone can account for significant differences in wellbeing; sometimes matching or even exceeding the explanatory power of income and employment factors. For instance, eating alone was a stronger predictor of variation in life evaluation than being unemployed, although income remained the stronger predictor.

To examine changes over time, the authors also analysed data from the American Time Use Survey from 2003 to 2023. They found that Americans are increasingly dining alone. In 2023, around one in four American adults reported eating all of their meals alone on the previous day, representing an increase of more than 50% since 2003.

The findings of the study are particularly notable because meal sharing is a concrete, everyday behaviour that can be compared across people, countries, and time. While loneliness and social isolation have entered societal awareness as growing problems, the study suggests that one small question like “Who did you eat with?”, may reveal something important about how connected people feel.