The phrase “you will own nothing and be happy” is most closely associated with the World Economic Forum (WEF), which popularized it in a short “8 predictions for the world in 2030” social media video summarizing ideas about the future sharing economy.
Origin and author
The line itself is derived from a 2016 WEF-published opinion piece by Danish politician Ida Auken titled “Welcome to 2030,” which imagines a person in a city who rents or accesses nearly everything instead of owning it. In that essay, Auken did not use the exact slogan as a standalone quote but described a scenario that the WEF media team later condensed into the catchphrase “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.” in the 2030 predictions video and related materials.
Common misattribution
The phrase is often wrongly attributed to WEF founder Klaus Schwab personally, as if he said it in a speech, but fact-checkers and WEF representatives note there is no official WEF policy statement or Schwab quote with that exact wording as a goal for 2030. Instead, it spread widely as a meme and slogan after appearing in WEF’s video and being picked up by critics and commentators who used it to characterize or criticize the WEF’s vision.
Summary
So, the short answer is:
- The concept and scenario come from Ida Auken’s 2016 essay published by the WEF.
- The exact slogan “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy” was popularized by the WEF’s own 2030 predictions video and communications team, not as a direct spoken quote by a single person like Klaus Schwab.
