One's assessment of one's own happiness in life remains surprisingly stable on the global average, even in times of crisis. Northern Europe once again holds the top spot, with Germany slightly behind. You can find the entire ranking here.
Helsinki. The global sense of happiness has remained remarkably stable despite many crises around the world. That's the conclusion of an independent group of experts in the new World Happiness Report, released Monday to mark the United Nations' International Day of Happiness. Despite the sharp worsening of the security situation in Europe as a result of Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine and Finland's incomplete NATO membership, Finland remains by far the leader among the happiest populated countries in the world for the sixth year in a row.
Denmark, Iceland, Israel and the Netherlands lag slightly behind the northernmost country in the EU, with joint NATO candidates Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg and New Zealand before making it to the top ten. In an annual comparison, Israel jumped from ninth to fourth place. Germany is in 16th place this time – two places worse than last year. It is clear that Afghanistan and Lebanon are the most unhappy among the 137 countries surveyed.
World Happiness Report has named Finland the happiest country in the world once again
Six key factors in calculating happiness
Publishing the report on the basis of surveys by the Gallup Institute, the scientists involved calculate the ranking based on data from the last three years. They identified six key factors in happiness: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.
Despite multiple overlapping crises, life assessments for most of the world's population have remained remarkably stable, the researchers wrote. In the years 2020-2022, strongly affected by the corona pandemic, the global average values were as high as in the three years before the pandemic. According to the report, people are generally happier in countries where happiness and well-being are as evenly distributed among the population as possible.
Scientist: “Russian invasion turned Ukraine into a nation”
“Our average happiness and country rankings have remained remarkably stable over the three years of Covid-19,” researcher John Helliwell said. Changes in the rankings represented ongoing, long-term trends, such as the improved rankings of the Baltic states of Lithuania (20th), Estonia (31st) and Latvia (41st). Even in these difficult years, positive emotions are twice as common as negative ones.
Ukraine (92nd) and Russia (70th) are slightly higher in the new report than a year ago, but the Ukrainian total - unlike Russia - fell slightly. "Despite the extent of the pain and damage in Ukraine, life assessments in September 2022 remained higher than after the 2014 annexation," the scientists said, referring to the year Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
According to the experts' findings, this is partly due to a much stronger sense of togetherness and trust in the leadership around President Volodymyr Zelenskyj. In 2022, confidence in governments has increased in both countries, but much more in Ukraine than in Russia. "The Russian occupation made Ukraine a nation," said Oxford professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, one of the report's authors.
World happiness report: overall ranking
- Finland (7804, value calculated using the six key factors above )
- Denmark (7586)
- Iceland (7530)
- Israel (7473)
- Netherlands (7403)
- Sweden (7395)
- Norway (7315)
- Switzerland (7240)
- Luxembourg (7228)
- New Zealand (7123)
- Austria (7097)
- Australia (7095)
- Canada (6961)
- Ireland (6911)
- United States (6894)
- Germany (6892)
- Belgium (6859)
- Czech Republic (6845)
- United Kingdom (6796)
- Lithuania (6763)
- France (6661)
- Slovenia (6650)
- Costa Rica (6609)
- Romania (6589)
- Singapore (6587)
- United Arab Emirates (6571)
- Taiwan (6535)
- Uruguay (6494)
- Slovakia (6469)
- Saudi Arabia (6463)
- Estonia (6455)
- Spain (6436)
- Italy (6405)
- Kosovo (6368)
- Chile (6334)
- Mexico (6330)
- Malta (6300)
- Panama (6265)
- Poland (6260)
- Nicaragua (6259)
- Latvia (6213)
- Bahrain (6173)
- Guatemala (6150)
- Kazakhstan (6144)
- Serbia (6144)
- Cyprus (6130)
- Japan (6129)
- Croatia (6125)
- Brazil (6125)
- El Salvador (6122)
- Hungary (6041)
- Argentina (6024)
- Honduras (6023)
- Uzbekistan (6014)
- Malaysia (6012)
- Portugal (5968)
- South Korea (5951)
- Greece (5931)
- Mauritius (5902)
- Thailand (5843)
- Mongolia (5840)
- Kyrgyzstan (5825)
- Moldova (5819)
- China (5818)
- Vietnam (5763)
- Paraguay (5738)
- Montenegro (5722)
- Jamaica (5703)
- Bolivia (5684)
- Russia (5661)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (5633)
- Colombia (5630)
- Dominican Republic (5569)
- Ecuador (5559)
- Peru (5526)
- Philippines (5523)
- Bulgaria (5466)
- Nepal (5360)
- Armenia (5342)
- Tajikistan (5330)
- Algeria (5329)
- Hong Kong (5308)
- Albania (5277)
- Indonesia (5277)
- South Africa (5275)
- Congo (5267)
- North Macedonia (5254)
- Venezuela (5211)
- Laos (5111)
- Georgia (5109)
- Guinea (5072)
- Ukraine (5071)
- Ivory Coast (5053)
- Gabon (5035)
- Nigeria (4981)
- Cameroon (4973)
- Mozambique (4954)
- Iraq (4941)
- Palestine (4908)
- Morocco (4903)
- Iran (4876)
- Senegal (4855)
- Mauritania (4724)
- Burkina Faso (4638)
- Namibia (4631)
- Turkey (4614)
- Ghana (4605)
- Pakistan (4555)
- Nigeria (4501)
- Tunisia (4497)
- Kenya (4487)
- Sri Lanka (4442)
- Uganda (4432)
- Chad (4397)
- Cambodia (4393)
- Benin (4374)
- Myanmar (4372)
- Bangladesh (4282)
- Gambia (4279)
- Mali (4198)
- Egypt (4170)
- Togo (4137)
- Jordan (4120)
- Ethiopia (4091)
- Liberia (4042)
- India (4036)
- Madagascar (4019)
- Zambia (3982)
- Tanzania (3694)
- Comoros (3545)
- Malawi (3495)
- Botswana (3435)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (3207)
- Zimbabwe (3204)
- Sierra Leone (3138)
- Lebanon (2392)
- Afghanistan (1859)