Worldwide levels of happiness as measured by the World Happiness Report (2023).

The World Happiness Report is a report by the United Nations that measures national happiness. Data is primarily from the Gallup World Poll and based on respondent ratings of their own lives.[1][2]

The Gallup World Poll questionnaire[3] measures 14 areas within its core questions: (1) business & economic, (2) citizen engagement, (3) communications & technology, (4) diversity (social issues), (5) education & families, (6) emotions (well-being), (7) environment & energy, (8) food & shelter, (9) government and politics, (10) law & order (safety), (11) health, (12) religion & ethics, (13) transportation, and (14) work.

As of March 2023, Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world six times in a row.[4][5][6][7] The report also correlates with various (quality of) life factors.[8]

The report has funding from Fondazione Ernesto Illy, illycaffè, Davines Group, Unilever’s largest ice cream brand Wall’s, Blue Chip Foundation, William, Jeff, and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation, Happier Way Foundation, and Regeneration Society Foundation.

The editors of the 2023 report are Jeffrey D. Sachs, John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara Aknin, and Shun Wang. The report is specifically published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network division of the UN.

History

In July 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 65/309 Happiness: Towards a Holistic Definition of Development[9] inviting member countries to measure the happiness of their people and to use the data to help guide public policy. On April 2, 2012, this was followed by the first UN High Level Meeting called Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm,[10] which was chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley of Bhutan, a nation that adopted gross national happiness instead of gross domestic product as their main development indicator.[11]

The first World Happiness Report was released on April 1, 2012 as a foundational text for the UN High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm,[12] drawing international attention.[13] The first report outlined the state of world happiness, causes of happiness and misery, and policy implications highlighted by case studies. In 2013, the second World Happiness Report was issued, and in 2015 the third. Since 2016, it has been issued on an annual basis on the 20th of March, to coincide with the UN's International Day of Happiness.[14]

Methodology

The rankings of national happiness are based on a happiness measurement survey undertaken world-wide by the polling company Gallup, Inc. Nationally representative samples of respondents are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale.[15] The report correlates the life evaluation results with various life factors.[8]

The life factor variables used in the reports are reflective of determinants that explain national-level differences in life evaluations across research literature. However, certain variables, such as unemployment or inequality, are not considered because comparable data is not yet available across all countries. The variables used illustrate important correlations rather than causal estimates.[15]

The use of subjective measurements of wellbeing is meant to be a bottom-up approach which emancipates respondents to evaluate their own wellbeing.[16] In this context, the value of the Cantril Ladder is the fact that a respondent can self-anchor themselves based on their perspective.[17]

In the reports, experts in fields including economics, psychology, survey analysis, and national statistics, describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations, and other topics. Each report is organized by chapters that delve deeper into issues relating to happiness, including mental illness, the objective benefits of happiness, the importance of ethics, policy implications, and links with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) approach to measuring subjective well-being and other international and national efforts.

WELLBYs

From 2021 the World Happiness Report has advocated for the use of WELLBYs (Well-Being-Adjusted Life-Years); it argues that QALYs only count the individual patient's health-related quality of life, and instead WELLBYs should be used. Policy-makers should aim to maximise the WELLBYs of all who are born, and also include the WELLBYs of future generations (subject to a small discount rate).[18][19][20]

Flaws

Metrics

Critics have pointed out the difference between evaluations and experiences of well-being.[21][22] For instance Colombia came 37th in the 2018 World Happiness Report rankings but first by daily emotional experience in Gallup's Positive Experience Index.[23] The inconsistencies in the results of different happiness measurement surveys have also been noted, for instance, a Pew survey of 43 countries in 2014 (which excluded most of Europe) had Mexico, Israel, and Venezuela finishing first, second and third.[24] Others point out that the variables of interest used by the World Happiness Report are more appropriate for measuring national-level rather than individual-level happiness.[25]

Methodology

The World Happiness Report's use of a single-item indicator of subjective well-being is fundamentally different from more traditional Index approaches which use a range of indicators such as the United Nations' Human Development Index, the OECD Better Life Index of 2011, or the Social Progress Index of 2013. There has also been an ongoing debate regarding single-item and multi-item scales as measures of life satisfaction.[26]

The idea that subjective well-being can be captured by a survey has also been contested by economists, who have identified that people’s assessments of their happiness can be affected by how, for example, their country’s education system grades exams, and that survey questions on subjective well-being are affected by response styles.[27]

Legitimacy

In 2014, British journalist Michael Booth questioned the legitimacy of the Nordic countries' freedom and happiness rankings in his book The Almost Nearly Perfect People. In it, he criticizes Denmark's environmental footprint and notes that the taxes and personal debt levels among its citizens are the highest in the world.[28] He also writes that in Finland, the most common type of prescription medications in the country are antipsychotic. He also points out the country's high alcohol consumption, murder, and suicide rates.[29] Further, he argues that he doesn't think the Danes were the world's happiest people, but instead described them as the "most satisfied".[30]

World happiness rankings

Data is collected from people in over 150 countries. Each variable measured reveals a populated-weighted average score on a scale running from 0 to 10 that is tracked over time and compared against other countries. These variables currently include:

Each country is also compared against a hypothetical nation called Dystopia. Dystopia represents the lowest national averages for each key variable and is, along with residual error, used as a regression benchmark. The six metrics are used to explain the estimated extent to which each of these factors contribute to increasing life satisfaction when compared to the hypothetical nation of Dystopia, but they themselves do not have an effect on the total score reported for each country.[31]

2023 report

The 2023 report features the happiness score averaged over the years 2020–2022.

Table
Overall rank Country or region
1  Finland
2  Denmark
3  Iceland
4  Israel
5  Netherlands
6  Sweden
7  Norway
8   Switzerland
9  Luxembourg
10  New Zealand
11  Austria
12  Australia
13  Canada
14  Ireland
15  United States
16  Germany
17  Belgium
18  Czech Republic
19  United Kingdom
20  Lithuania
21  France
22  Slovenia
23  Costa Rica
24  Romania
25  Singapore*
26  United Arab Emirates
27  Taiwan
28  Uruguay
29  Slovakia*
30  Saudi Arabia
31  Estonia
32  Spain
33  Italy
34  Kosovo
35  Chile
36  Mexico
37  Malta
38  Panama
39  Poland
40  Nicaragua
41  Latvia
42  Bahrain*
43  Guatemala
44  Kazakhstan
45  Serbia*
46  Cyprus
47  Japan
48  Croatia
49  Brazil
50  El Salvador
51  Hungary
52  Argentina
53  Honduras
54  Uzbekistan
55  Malaysia*
56  Portugal
57  South Korea
58  Greece
59  Mauritius
60  Thailand
61  Mongolia
62  Kyrgyzstan
63  Moldova
64  China*
65  Vietnam
66  Paraguay
67  Montenegro*
68  Jamaica
69  Bolivia
70  Russia
71  Bosnia and Herzegovina*
72  Colombia
73  Dominican Republic
74  Ecuador
75  Peru
76  Philippines*
77  Bulgaria
78    Nepal
79  Armenia
80  Tajikistan*
81  Algeria*
82  Hong Kong
83  Albania
84  Indonesia
85  South Africa*
86  Congo, Republic of
87  North Macedonia
88  Venezuela
89  Laos*
90  Georgia
91  Guinea
92  Ukraine
93  Ivory Coast
94  Gabon
95  Nigeria*
96  Cameroon
97  Mozambique
98  Iraq*
99  Palestine
100  Morocco
101  Iran
102  Senegal
103  Mauritania
104  Burkina Faso*
105  Namibia
106  Turkey*
107  Ghana
108  Pakistan
109  Niger
110  Tunisia
111  Kenya
112  Sri Lanka*
113  Uganda*
114  Chad
115  Cambodia
116  Benin
117  Myanmar*
118  Bangladesh
119  Gambia
120  Mali
121  Egypt
122  Togo
123  Jordan
124  Ethiopia
125  Liberia
126  India
127  Madagascar
128  Zambia*
129  Tanzania
130  Comoros
131  Malawi
132  Botswana
133  Congo, Democratic Republic of
134  Zimbabwe
135  Sierra Leone
136  Lebanon
137  Afghanistan
* indicates the country does not have survey information in 2022. Their averages are based on the 2020 and 2021 surveys.

2022 report

Table
Overall rank Country or region
1  Finland
2  Denmark
3  Iceland
4   Switzerland
5  Netherlands
6  Luxembourg
7  Sweden
8  Norway
9  Israel
10  New Zealand
11  Austria
12  Australia
13  Ireland
14  Germany
15  Canada
16  United States
17  United Kingdom
18  Czech Republic
19  Belgium
20  France

2020 report

The 2020 report features the happiness score averaged over the years 2017–2019. Finland is the 'happiest' country in the world, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway. The data comes from the Gallup World Poll, based entirely on survey scores and answers to the main life evaluation question asked in the poll.

Table
Overall rank Country or region Score GDP per capita Social support Healthy life expectancy Freedom to make life choices Generosity Perceptions of corruption
1  Finland 7.809 1.285 1.500 0.961 0.662 0.160 0.478
2  Denmark 7.646 1.327 1.503 0.979 0.665 0.243 0.495
3   Switzerland 7.560 1.391 1.472 1.041 0.629 0.269 0.408
4  Iceland 7.504 1.327 1.548 1.001 0.662 0.362 0.145
5  Norway 7.488 1.424 1.495 1.008 0.670 0.288 0.434
6  Netherlands 7.449 1.339 1.464 0.976 0.614 0.336 0.369
7  Sweden 7.353 1.322 1.433 0.986 0.650 0.273 0.442
8  New Zealand 7.300 1.242 1.487 1.008 0.647 0.326 0.461
9  Austria 7.294 1.317 1.437 1.001 0.603 0.256 0.281
10  Luxembourg 7.238 1.537 1.388 0.986 0.610 0.196 0.367
11  Canada 7.232 1.302 1.435 1.023 0.644 0.282 0.352
12  Australia 7.223 1.310 1.477 1.023 0.622 0.325 0.336
13  United Kingdom 7.165 1.273 1.458 0.976 0.525 0.373 0.323
14  Israel 7.129 1.216 1.403 1.008 0.421 0.267 0.100
15  Costa Rica 7.121 0.981 1.375 0.940 0.645 0.131 0.096
16  Ireland 7.094 1.447 1.471 0.976 0.588 0.295 0.373
17  Germany 7.076 1.314 1.369 0.972 0.564 0.252 0.309
18  United States 6.940 1.374 1.405 0.832 0.535 0.298 0.152
19  Czech Republic 6.911 1.212 1.405 0.895 0.506 0.046 0.050
20  Belgium 6.864 1.296 1.399 0.965 0.500 0.147 0.209
21  United Arab Emirates 6.791 1.431 1.251 0.788 0.653 0.281 0.220
22  Malta 6.773 1.253 1.443 0.972 0.633 0.341 0.179
23  France 6.664 1.268 1.459 1.030 0.514 0.113 0.227
24  Mexico 6.465 1.024 1.226 0.832 0.554 0.083 0.083
25  Taiwan 6.455 1.327 1.358 0.878 0.449 0.151 0.132
26  Uruguay 6.440 1.071 1.425 0.857 0.594 0.132 0.193
27  Saudi Arabia 6.406 1.334 1.310 0.760 0.548 0.087 0.163
28  Spain 6.401 1.231 1.421 1.051 0.426 0.165 0.110
29  Guatemala 6.399 0.754 1.174 0.706 0.613 0.171 0.098
30  Italy 6.387 1.236 1.347 1.023 0.321 0.170 0.040
31  Singapore 6.377 1.520 1.395 1.138 0.635 0.219 0.533
32  Brazil 6.376 0.953 1.363 0.766 0.483 0.132 0.107
33  Slovenia 6.363 1.209 1.465 0.933 0.647 0.146 0.077
34  El Salvador 6.348 0.749 1.149 0.753 0.524 0.119 0.117
35  Kosovo 6.325 0.840 1.184 0.673 0.557 0.325 0.009
36  Panama 6.305 1.098 1.376 0.879 0.580 0.097 0.054
37  Slovakia 6.281 1.195 1.424 0.853 0.424 0.117 0.011
38  Uzbekistan 6.258 0.697 1.434 0.717 0.693 0.363 0.280
39  Chile 6.228 1.097 1.323 0.889 0.417 0.156 0.063
40  Bahrain 6.227 1.297 1.315 0.839 0.610 0.287 0.127
41  Lithuania 6.215 1.194 1.433 0.795 0.420 0.054 0.081
42  Trinidad and Tobago 6.192 1.168 1.407 0.659 0.553 0.199 0.015
43  Poland 6.186 1.169 1.310 0.868 0.558 0.063 0.161
44  Colombia 6.163 0.932 1.334 0.810 0.527 0.092 0.046
45  Cyprus 6.159 1.213 1.149 1.026 0.459 0.228 0.051
46  Nicaragua 6.137 0.620 1.271 0.803 0.560 0.213 0.174
47  Romania 6.124 1.120 1.194 0.792 0.535 0.068 0.001
48  Kuwait 6.102 1.425 1.245 0.776 0.570 0.133 0.113
49  Mauritius 6.101 1.074 1.396 0.763 0.591 0.187 0.084
50  Kazakhstan 6.058 1.123 1.453 0.699 0.497 0.154 0.110
51  Estonia 6.022 1.192 1.453 0.843 0.577 0.125 0.202
52  Philippines 6.006 0.775 1.245 0.602 0.622 0.129 0.130
53  Hungary 6.000 1.164 1.423 0.807 0.386 0.070 0.028
54  Thailand 5.999 1.007 1.348 0.794 0.609 0.377 0.032
55  Argentina 5.975 1.028 1.373 0.850 0.521 0.070 0.060
56  Honduras 5.953 0.599 1.187 0.792 0.568 0.257 0.087
57  Latvia 5.950 1.141 1.414 0.778 0.329 0.075 0.090
58  Ecuador 5.925 0.853 1.221 0.839 0.555 0.115 0.087
59  Portugal 5.911 1.169 1.340 0.979 0.590 0.053 0.028
60  Jamaica 5.890 0.779 1.408 0.788 0.553 0.116 0.030
61  South Korea 5.872 1.245 1.134 1.023 0.259 0.170 0.095
62  Japan 5.871 1.267 1.332 1.073 0.495 0.036 0.181
63  Peru 5.797 0.919 1.208 0.824 0.513 0.092 0.027
64  Serbia 5.778 0.988 1.327 0.828 0.395 0.150 0.059
65  Bolivia 5.747 0.731 1.142 0.662 0.574 0.138 0.073
66  Pakistan 5.693 0.617 0.873 0.470 0.405 0.229 0.123
67  Paraguay 5.692 0.898 1.368 0.736 0.587 0.204 0.065
68  Dominican Republic 5.689 0.983 1.329 0.742 0.563 0.112 0.116
69  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.674 0.918 1.204 0.814 0.305 0.264 0.001
70  Moldova 5.608 0.708 1.237 0.713 0.390 0.174 0.014
71  Tajikistan 5.556 0.475 1.218 0.681 0.521 0.182 0.222
72  Montenegro 5.546 1.010 1.266 0.839 0.303 0.149 0.098
73  Russia 5.546 1.127 1.379 0.680 0.399 0.099 0.046
74  Kyrgyzstan 5.542 0.513 1.341 0.681 0.615 0.301 0.030
75  Belarus 5.540 1.019 1.387 0.753 0.291 0.090 0.194
76  North Cyprus 5.536 1.213 1.183 1.026 0.478 0.199 0.200
77  Greece 5.515 1.128 1.169 0.979 0.174 0.000 0.049
78  Hong Kong 5.510 1.377 1.244 1.137 0.459 0.288 0.332
79  Croatia 5.505 1.109 1.311 0.901 0.381 0.114 0.012
80  Libya 5.489 1.022 1.196 0.616 0.451 0.143 0.172
81  Mongolia 5.456 0.905 1.459 0.616 0.356 0.264 0.047
82  Malaysia 5.384 1.168 1.174 0.789 0.597 0.275 0.062
83  Vietnam 5.353 0.718 1.253 0.819 0.651 0.136 0.090
84  Indonesia 5.286 0.892 1.155 0.610 0.568 0.543 0.038
85  Ivory Coast 5.233 0.537 0.800 0.155 0.397 0.170 0.093
86  Benin 5.216 0.366 0.352 0.328 0.406 0.197 0.126
87  Maldives 5.198 0.938 1.402 0.914 0.548 0.224 0.072
88  Congo (Brazzaville) 5.194 0.634 0.758 0.458 0.387 0.117 0.119
89  Azerbaijan 5.165 0.990 1.181 0.731 0.468 0.040 0.247
90  North Macedonia 5.160 0.935 1.183 0.803 0.410 0.186 0.025
91  Ghana 5.148 0.576 0.966 0.432 0.477 0.261 0.057
92    Nepal 5.137 0.444 1.101 0.669 0.481 0.301 0.128
93  Turkey 5.132 1.127 1.197 0.781 0.254 0.086 0.121
94  China 5.124 0.991 1.132 0.867 0.602 0.079 0.117
95  Turkmenistan 5.119 1.009 1.510 0.612 0.515 0.323 0.034
96  Bulgaria 5.102 1.047 1.461 0.778 0.418 0.104 0.000
97  Morocco 5.095 0.759 0.645 0.745 0.450 0.040 0.077
98  Cameroon 5.085 0.504 0.900 0.270 0.439 0.198 0.054
99  Venezuela 5.053 0.770 1.349 0.767 0.272 0.087 0.064
100  Algeria 5.005 0.944 1.143 0.745 0.084 0.119 0.129
101  Senegal 4.981 0.504 0.955 0.518 0.352 0.164 0.082
102  Guinea 4.949 0.390 0.751 0.334 0.372 0.249 0.112
103  Niger 4.910 0.108 0.704 0.299 0.435 0.208 0.138
104  Laos 4.889 0.715 0.987 0.486 0.612 0.273 0.194
105  Albania 4.883 0.907 0.830 0.846 0.462 0.171 0.025
106  Cambodia 4.848 0.545 1.071 0.588 0.675 0.233 0.073
107  Bangladesh 4.833 0.556 0.869 0.695 0.604 0.177 0.177
108  Gabon 4.829 0.988 1.106 0.523 0.369 0.052 0.056
109  South Africa 4.814 0.902 1.259 0.407 0.435 0.126 0.060
110  Iraq 4.785 0.982 1.011 0.529 0.284 0.153 0.073
111  Lebanon 4.772 0.889 1.192 0.789 0.186 0.159 0.022
112  Burkina Faso 4.769 0.302 0.929 0.313 0.322 0.186 0.126
113  Gambia 4.751 0.257 0.883 0.353 0.403 0.426 0.158
114  Mali 4.729 0.352 0.973 0.235 0.378 0.170 0.062
115  Nigeria 4.724 0.646 0.987 0.168 0.435 0.221 0.048
116  Armenia 4.677 0.808 1.035 0.776 0.378 0.107 0.105
117  Georgia 4.673 0.847 0.731 0.695 0.485 0.048 0.174
118  Iran 4.672 1.029 0.886 0.749 0.301 0.277 0.143
119  Jordan 4.633 0.785 1.140 0.778 0.425 0.091 0.152
120  Mozambique 4.624 0.179 0.955 0.324 0.561 0.220 0.163
121  Kenya 4.583 0.476 0.905 0.536 0.519 0.394 0.067
122  Namibia 4.571 0.840 1.246 0.407 0.445 0.076 0.054
123  Ukraine 4.561 0.780 1.321 0.699 0.319 0.179 0.010
124  Liberia 4.558 0.174 0.921 0.392 0.406 0.227 0.051
125  Palestine 4.553 0.588 1.195 0.614 0.299 0.092 0.072
126  Uganda 4.432 0.312 1.052 0.378 0.402 0.265 0.064
127  Chad 4.423 0.302 0.739 0.109 0.229 0.211 0.086
128  Tunisia 4.392 0.875 0.872 0.781 0.236 0.056 0.044
129  Mauritania 4.375 0.540 1.113 0.425 0.186 0.129 0.122
130  Sri Lanka 4.327 0.898 1.195 0.792 0.529 0.253 0.049
131  Congo (Kinshasa) 4.311 0.062 0.833 0.277 0.365 0.254 0.081
132  Eswatini 4.308 0.828 1.065 0.216 0.300 0.067 0.147
133  Myanmar 4.308 0.678 1.098 0.495 0.597 0.570 0.188
134  Comoros 4.289 0.416 0.723 0.437 0.181 0.259 0.100
135  Togo 4.187 0.268 0.548 0.343 0.304 0.201 0.115
136  Ethiopia 4.186 0.315 1.001 0.484 0.413 0.228 0.117
137  Madagascar 4.166 0.245 0.824 0.501 0.193 0.191 0.076
138  Egypt 4.151 0.875 0.983 0.597 0.374 0.069 0.095
139  Sierra Leone 3.926 0.241 0.748 0.204 0.382 0.258 0.048
140  Burundi 3.775 0.000 0.404 0.295 0.275 0.187 0.212
141  Zambia 3.759 0.537 0.896 0.364 0.491 0.251 0.087
142  Haiti 3.721 0.285 0.647 0.374 0.169 0.464 0.162
143  Lesotho 3.653 0.455 1.089 0.101 0.409 0.103 0.050
144  India 3.573 0.731 0.644 0.541 0.581 0.237 0.106
145  Malawi 3.538 0.177 0.530 0.446 0.487 0.213 0.132
146  Yemen 3.527 0.393 1.177 0.415 0.244 0.095 0.087
147  Botswana 3.479 0.998 1.086 0.494 0.509 0.033 0.102
148  Tanzania 3.476 0.457 0.873 0.443 0.509 0.272 0.204
149  Central African Republic 3.476 0.041 0.000 0.000 0.293 0.254 0.028
150  Rwanda 3.312 0.343 0.523 0.572 0.604 0.236 0.486
151  Zimbabwe 3.299 0.426 1.048 0.375 0.377 0.151 0.081
152  South Sudan 2.817 0.289 0.553 0.209 0.066 0.210 0.111
153  Afghanistan 2.567 0.301 0.356 0.266 0.000 0.135 0.001

2019 report

The 2019 report features the happiness score averaged over the years 2016–2018. As per the 2019 Happiness Index, Finland is the 'happiest' country in the world. Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Netherlands hold the next top positions. The report was published on 20 March 2019 by UN. The full report can be read at 2019 Report. The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness.

Table
Overall rank Country or region Score GDP per capita Social support Healthy life expectancy Freedom to make life choices Generosity Perceptions of corruption
1  Finland 7.769 1.340 1.587 0.986 0.596 0.153 0.393
2  Denmark 7.600 1.383 1.573 0.996 0.592 0.252 0.410
3  Norway 7.554 1.488 1.582 1.028 0.603 0.271 0.341
4  Iceland 7.494 1.380 1.624 1.026 0.591 0.354 0.118
5  Netherlands 7.488 1.396 1.522 0.999 0.557 0.322 0.298
6   Switzerland 7.480 1.452 1.526 1.052 0.572 0.263 0.343
7  Sweden 7.343 1.387 1.487 1.009 0.574 0.267 0.373
8  New Zealand 7.307 1.303 1.557 1.026 0.585 0.330 0.380
9  Canada 7.278 1.365 1.505 1.039 0.584 0.285 0.308
10  Austria 7.246 1.376 1.475 1.016 0.532 0.244 0.226
11  Australia 7.228 1.372 1.548 1.036 0.557 0.332 0.290
12  Costa Rica 7.167 1.034 1.441 0.963 0.558 0.144 0.093
13  Israel 7.139 1.276 1.455 1.029 0.371 0.261 0.082
14  Luxembourg 7.090 1.609 1.479 1.012 0.526 0.194 0.316
15  United Kingdom 7.054 1.333 1.538 0.996 0.450 0.348 0.278
16  Ireland 7.021 1.499 1.553 0.999 0.516 0.298 0.310
17  Germany 6.985 1.373 1.454 0.987 0.495 0.261 0.265
18  Belgium 6.923 1.356 1.504 0.986 0.473 0.160 0.210
19  United States of America 6.892 1.433 1.457 0.874 0.454 0.280 0.128
20  Czech Republic 6.852 1.269 1.487 0.920 0.457 0.046 0.036
21  United Arab Emirates 6.825 1.503 1.310 0.825 0.598 0.262 0.182
22  Malta 6.726 1.300 1.520 0.999 0.564 0.375 0.151
23  Mexico 6.595 1.070 1.323 0.861 0.433 0.074 0.073
24  France 6.592 1.324 1.472 1.045 0.436 0.111 0.183
25  Taiwan 6.446 1.368 1.430 0.914 0.351 0.242 0.097
26  Chile 6.444 1.159 1.369 0.920 0.357 0.187 0.056
27  Guatemala 6.436 0.800 1.269 0.746 0.535 0.175 0.078
28  Saudi Arabia 6.375 1.403 1.357 0.795 0.439 0.080 0.132
29  Qatar 6.374 1.684 1.313 0.871 0.555 0.220 0.167
30  Spain 6.354 1.286 1.484 1.062 0.362 0.153 0.079
31  Panama 6.321 1.149 1.442 0.910 0.516 0.109 0.054
32  Brazil 6.300 1.004 1.439 0.802 0.390 0.099 0.086
33  Uruguay 6.293 1.124 1.465 0.891 0.523 0.127 0.150
34  Singapore 6.262 1.572 1.463 1.141 0.556 0.271 0.453
35  El Salvador 6.253 0.794 1.242 0.789 0.430 0.093 0.074
36  Italy 6.223 1.294 1.488 1.039 0.231 0.158 0.030
37  Bahrain 6.199 1.362 1.368 0.871 0.536 0.255 0.110
38  Slovakia 6.198 1.246 1.504 0.881 0.334 0.121 0.014
39  Trinidad & Tobago 6.192 1.231 1.477 0.713 0.489 0.185 0.016
40  Poland 6.182 1.206 1.438 0.884 0.483 0.117 0.050
41  Uzbekistan 6.174 0.745 1.529 0.756 0.631 0.322 0.240
42  Lithuania 6.149 1.238 1.515 0.818 0.291 0.043 0.042
43  Colombia 6.125 0.985 1.410 0.841 0.470 0.099 0.034
44  Slovenia 6.118 1.258 1.523 0.953 0.564 0.144 0.057
45  Nicaragua 6.105 0.694 1.325 0.835 0.435 0.200 0.127
46  Kosovo 6.100 0.882 1.232 0.758 0.489 0.262 0.006
47  Argentina 6.086 1.092 1.432 0.881 0.471 0.066 0.050
48  Romania 6.070 1.162 1.232 0.825 0.462 0.083 0.005
49  Cyprus 6.046 1.263 1.223 1.042 0.406 0.190 0.041
50  Ecuador 6.028 0.912 1.312 0.868 0.498 0.126 0.087
51  Kuwait 6.011 1.050 1.409 0.828 0.557 0.359 0.028
52  Thailand 6.008 1.050 1.409 0.828 0.557 0.359 0.028
53  Latvia 5.940 1.187 1.465 0.812 0.264 0.075 0.064
54  South Korea 5.895 1.301 1.219 1.036 0.159 0.175 0.056
55  Estonia 5.893 1.237 1.528 0.874 0.495 0.103 0.161
56  Jamaica 5.890 0.831 1.478 0.831 0.490 0.107 0.028
57  Mauritius 5.888 1.120 1.402 0.798 0.498 0.215 0.060
58  Japan 5.886 1.327 1.419 1.088 0.445 0.069 0.140
59  Honduras 5.860 0.642 1.236 0.828 0.507 0.246 0.078
60  Kazakhstan 5.809 1.173 1.508 0.729 0.410 0.146 0.096
61  Bolivia 5.779 0.776 1.209 0.706 0.511 0.137 0.064
62  Hungary 5.758 1.201 1.410 0.828 0.199 0.081 0.020
63  Paraguay 5.743 0.855 1.475 0.777 0.514 0.184 0.080
64  Northern Cyprus 5.718 1.263 1.252 1.042 0.417 0.191 0.162
65  Peru 5.697 0.960 1.274 0.854 0.455 0.083 0.027
66  Portugal 5.693 1.221 1.431 0.999 0.508 0.047 0.025
67  Pakistan 5.653 0.677 0.886 0.535 0.313 0.220 0.098
68  Russia 5.648 1.183 1.452 0.726 0.334 0.082 0.031
69  Philippines 5.631 0.807 1.293 0.657 0.558 0.117 0.107
70  Serbia 5.603 1.004 1.383 0.854 0.282 0.137 0.039
71  Moldova 5.529 0.685 1.328 0.739 0.245 0.181 0.000
72  Libya 5.525 1.044 1.303 0.673 0.416 0.133 0.152
73  Montenegro 5.523 1.051 1.361 0.871 0.197 0.142 0.080
74  Tajikistan 5.467 0.493 1.098 0.718 0.389 0.230 0.144
75  Croatia 5.432 1.155 1.266 0.914 0.296 0.119 0.022
76  Hong Kong 5.430 1.438 1.277 1.122 0.440 0.258 0.287
77  Dominican Republic 5.425 1.015 1.401 0.779 0.497 0.113 0.101
78  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.386 0.945 1.212 0.845 0.212 0.263 0.006
79  Turkey 5.373 1.183 1.360 0.808 0.195 0.083 0.106
80  Malaysia 5.339 1.221 1.171 0.828 0.508 0.260 0.024
81  Belarus 5.323 1.067 1.465 0.789 0.235 0.094 0.142
82  Greece 5.287 1.181 1.156 0.999 0.067 0.000 0.034
83  Mongolia 5.285 0.948 1.531 0.667 0.317 0.235 0.038
84  North Macedonia 5.274 0.983 1.294 0.838 0.345 0.185 0.034
85  Nigeria 5.265 0.696 1.111 0.245 0.426 0.215 0.041
86  Kyrgyzstan 5.261 0.551 1.438 0.723 0.508 0.300 0.023
87  Turkmenistan 5.247 1.052 1.538 0.657 0.394 0.244 0.028
88  Algeria 5.211 1.002 1.160 0.785 0.086 0.073 0.114
89  Morocco 5.208 0.801 0.782 0.782 0.418 0.036 0.076
90  Azerbaijan 5.208 1.043 1.147 0.769 0.351 0.035 0.182
91  Lebanon 5.197 0.987 1.224 0.815 0.216 0.166 0.027
92  Indonesia 5.192 0.931 1.203 0.660 0.491 0.498 0.028
93  China 5.191 1.029 1.125 0.893 0.521 0.058 0.100
94  Vietnam 5.175 0.741 1.346 0.851 0.543 0.147 0.073
95  Bhutan 5.082 0.813 1.321 0.604 0.457 0.370 0.167
96  Cameroon 5.044 0.549 0.910 0.331 0.381 0.187 0.037
97  Bulgaria 5.011 1.092 1.513 0.815 0.311 0.081 0.004
98  Ghana 4.996 0.611 0.868 0.486 0.381 0.245 0.040
99  Ivory Coast 4.944 0.569 0.808 0.232 0.352 0.154 0.090
100    Nepal 4.913 0.446 1.226 0.677 0.439 0.285 0.089
101  Jordan 4.906 0.837 1.225 0.815 0.383 0.110 0.130
102  Benin 4.883 0.393 0.437 0.397 0.349 0.175 0.082
103  Congo (Brazzaville) 4.812 0.673 0.799 0.508 0.372 0.105 0.093
104  Gabon 4.799 1.057 1.183 0.571 0.295 0.043 0.055
105  Laos 4.796 0.764 1.030 0.551 0.547 0.266 0.164
106  South Africa 4.722 0.960 1.351 0.469 0.389 0.130 0.055
107  Albania 4.719 0.947 0.848 0.874 0.383 0.178 0.027
108  Venezuela 4.707 0.960 1.427 0.805 0.154 0.064 0.047
109  Cambodia 4.700 0.574 1.122 0.637 0.609 0.232 0.062
110  Palestinian Territories 4.696 0.657 1.247 0.672 0.225 0.103 0.066
111  Senegal 4.681 0.450 1.134 0.571 0.292 0.153 0.072
112  Somalia 4.668 0.000 0.698 0.268 0.559 0.243 0.270
113  Namibia 4.639 0.879 1.313 0.477 0.401 0.070 0.056
114  Niger 4.628 0.138 0.774 0.366 0.318 0.188 0.102
115  Burkina Faso 4.587 0.331 1.056 0.380 0.255 0.177 0.113
116  Armenia 4.559 0.850 1.055 0.815 0.283 0.095 0.064
117  Iran 4.548 1.100 0.842 0.785 0.305 0.270 0.125
118  Guinea 4.534 0.380 0.829 0.375 0.332 0.207 0.086
119  Georgia 4.519 0.886 0.666 0.752 0.346 0.043 0.164
120  Gambia 4.516 0.308 0.939 0.428 0.382 0.269 0.167
121  Kenya 4.509 0.512 0.983 0.581 0.431 0.372 0.053
122  Mauritania 4.490 0.570 1.167 0.489 0.066 0.106 0.088
123  Mozambique 4.466 0.204 0.986 0.390 0.494 0.197 0.138
124  Tunisia 4.461 0.921 1.000 0.815 0.167 0.059 0.055
125  Bangladesh 4.456 0.562 0.928 0.723 0.527 0.166 0.143
126  Iraq 4.437 1.043 0.980 0.574 0.241 0.148 0.089
127  Congo (Kinshasa) 4.418 0.094 1.125 0.357 0.269 0.212 0.053
128  Mali 4.390 0.385 1.105 0.308 0.327 0.153 0.052
129  Sierra Leone 4.374 0.268 0.841 0.242 0.309 0.252 0.045
130  Sri Lanka 4.366 0.949 1.265 0.831 0.470 0.244 0.047
131  Myanmar 4.360 0.710 1.181 0.555 0.525 0.566 0.172
132  Chad 4.350 0.350 0.766 0.192 0.174 0.198 0.078
133  Ukraine 4.332 0.820 1.390 0.739 0.178 0.187 0.010
134  Ethiopia 4.286 0.336 1.033 0.532 0.344 0.209 0.100
135  Eswatini 4.212 0.811 1.149 0.000 0.313 0.074 0.135
136  Uganda 4.189 0.332 1.069 0.443 0.356 0.252 0.060
137  Egypt 4.166 0.913 1.039 0.644 0.241 0.076 0.067
138  Zambia 4.107 0.578 1.058 0.426 0.431 0.247 0.087
139  Togo 4.085 0.275 0.572 0.410 0.293 0.177 0.085
140  India 4.015 0.755 0.765 0.588 0.498 0.200 0.085
141  Liberia 3.975 0.073 0.922 0.443 0.370 0.233 0.033
142  Comoros 3.973 0.274 0.757 0.505 0.142 0.275 0.078
143  Madagascar 3.933 0.274 0.916 0.555 0.148 0.169 0.041
144  Lesotho 3.802 0.489 1.169 0.168 0.359 0.107 0.093
145  Burundi 3.775 0.046 0.447 0.380 0.220 0.176 0.180
146  Zimbabwe 3.663 0.366 1.114 0.433 0.361 0.151 0.089
147  Haiti 3.597 0.323 0.688 0.449 0.026 0.419 0.110
148  Botswana 3.488 1.041 1.145 0.538 0.455 0.025 0.100
149  Syria 3.462 0.619 0.378 0.440 0.013 0.331 0.141
150  Malawi 3.410 0.191 0.560 0.495 0.443 0.218 0.089
151  Yemen 3.380 0.287 1.163 0.463 0.143 0.108 0.077
152  Rwanda 3.334 0.359 0.711 0.614 0.555 0.217 0.411
153  Tanzania 3.231 0.476 0.885 0.499 0.417 0.276 0.147
154  Afghanistan 3.203 0.350 0.517 0.361 0.000 0.158 0.025
155  Central African Republic 3.083 0.026 0.000 0.105 0.225 0.235 0.035
156  South Sudan 2.853 0.306 0.575 0.295 0.010 0.202 0.091

2018 report

The 2018 report features the happiness score averaged over the years 2015–2017. As per the 2018 Happiness Index, Finland is the 'happiest' country in the world. Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland hold the next top positions. The report was published on 14 March 2018 by UN. The full report can be read at 2018 Report. The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The World Happiness Report 2018, which ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants, was released on March 14 at a launch event at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican.

Table
Overall rank Country or region Score GDP per capita Social support Freedom to make life choices Generosity Perceptions of corruption
1  Finland 7.632 1.305 1.592 0.874 0.681 0.202 0.393
2  Norway 7.594 1.456 1.582 0.861 0.686 0.286 0.340
3  Denmark 7.555 1.351 1.590 0.868 0.683 0.284 0.408
4  Iceland 7.495 1.343 1.644 0.914 0.677 0.353 0.138
5   Switzerland 7.487 1.420 1.549 0.927 0.660 0.256 0.357
6  Netherlands 7.441 1.361 1.488 0.878 0.638 0.333 0.295
7  Canada 7.328 1.330 1.532 0.896 0.653 0.321 0.291
8  New Zealand 7.324 1.268 1.601 0.876 0.669 0.365 0.389
9  Sweden 7.314 1.355 1.501 0.913 0.659 0.285 0.383
10  Australia 7.272 1.340 1.573 0.910 0.647 0.361 0.302
11  United Kingdom 7.190 1.244 1.433 0.888 0.464 0.262 0.082
12  Austria 7.139 1.341 1.504 0.891 0.617 0.242 0.224
13  Costa Rica 7.072 1.010 1.459 0.817 0.632 0.143 0.101
14  Ireland 6.977 1.448 1.583 0.876 0.614 0.307 0.306
15  Germany 6.965 1.340 1.474 0.861 0.586 0.273 0.280
16  Belgium 6.927 1.324 1.483 0.894 0.583 0.188 0.240
17  Luxembourg 6.910 1.576 1.520 0.896 0.632 0.196 0.321
18  United States 6.886 1.398 1.471 0.819 0.547 0.291 0.133
19  Israel 6.814 1.301 1.559 0.883 0.533 0.354 0.272
20  United Arab Emirates 6.774 2.096 0.776 0.670 0.284 0.186 N/A
21  Czech Republic 6.711 1.233 1.489 0.854 0.543 0.064 0.034
22  Malta 6.627 1.270 1.525 0.884 0.645 0.376 0.142
23  France 6.489 1.293 1.466 0.908 0.520 0.098 0.176
24  Mexico 6.488 1.038 1.252 0.761 0.479 0.069 0.095
25  Chile 6.476 1.131 1.331 0.808 0.431 0.197 0.061
26  Taiwan 6.441 1.365 1.436 0.857 0.418 0.151 0.078
27  Panama 6.430 1.112 1.438 0.759 0.597 0.125 0.063
28  Brazil 6.419 0.986 1.474 0.675 0.493 0.110 0.088
29  Argentina 6.388 1.073 1.468 0.744 0.570 0.062 0.054
30  Guatemala 6.382 0.781 1.268 0.608 0.604 0.179 0.071
31  Uruguay 6.379 1.093 1.459 0.771 0.625 0.130 0.155
32  Qatar 6.374 1.649 1.303 0.748 0.654 0.256 0.171
33  Saudi Arabia 6.371 1.379 1.331 0.633 0.509 0.098 0.127
34  Singapore 6.343 1.529 1.451 1.008 0.631 0.261 0.457
35  Malaysia 6.322 1.161 1.258 0.669 0.356 0.311 0.059
36  Spain 6.310 1.251 1.538 0.965 0.449 0.142 0.074
37  Colombia 6.260 0.960 1.439 0.635 0.531 0.099 0.039
38  Trinidad & Tobago 6.192 1.223 1.492 0.564 0.575 0.171 0.019
39  Slovakia 6.173 1.210 1.537 0.776 0.354 0.118 0.014
40  El Salvador 6.167 0.806 1.231 0.639 0.461 0.065 0.082
41  Nicaragua 6.141 0.668 1.319 0.700 0.527 0.208 0.128
42  Poland 6.123 1.176 1.448 0.781 0.546 0.108 0.064
43  Bahrain 6.105 1.338 1.366 0.698 0.594 0.243 0.123
44  Uzbekistan 6.096 0.719 1.584 0.605 0.724 0.328 0.259
45  Kuwait 6.083 1.474 1.301 0.675 0.554 0.167 0.106
46  Thailand 6.072 1.016 1.417 0.707 0.637 0.364 0.029
47  Italy 6.000 1.264 1.501 0.946 0.281 0.137 0.028
48  Ecuador 5.973 0.889 1.330 0.736 0.556 0.114 0.120
49  Belize 5.956 0.807 1.101 0.474 0.593 0.183 0.089
50  Lithuania 5.952 1.197 1.527 0.716 0.350 0.026 0.006
51  Slovenia 5.948 1.219 1.506 0.856 0.633 0.160 0.051
52  Romania 5.945 1.116 1.219 0.726 0.528 0.088 0.001
53  Latvia 5.933 1.148 1.454 0.671 0.363 0.092 0.066
54  Japan 5.915 1.294 1.462 0.988 0.553 0.079 0.150
55  Mauritius 5.891 1.090 1.387 0.684 0.584 0.245 0.050
56  Jamaica 5.890 0.819 1.493 0.693 0.575 0.096 0.031
57  South Korea 5.875 1.266 1.204 0.955 0.244 0.175 0.051
58  Northern Cyprus 5.835 1.229 1.211 0.909 0.495 0.179 0.154
59  Russia 5.810 1.151 1.479 0.599 0.399 0.065 0.025
60  Kazakhstan 5.790 1.143 1.516 0.631 0.454 0.148 0.121
61  Cyprus 5.762 1.229 1.191 0.909 0.423 0.202 0.035
62  Bolivia 5.752 0.751 1.223 0.508 0.606 0.141 0.054
63  Estonia 5.739 1.200 1.532 0.737 0.553 0.086 0.174
64  Paraguay 5.681 0.835 1.522 0.615 0.541 0.162 0.074
65  Peru 5.663 0.934 1.249 0.674 0.530 0.092 0.034
66  Kosovo 5.662 0.855 1.230 0.578 0.448 0.274 0.023
67  Moldova 5.640 0.657 1.301 0.620 0.232 0.171 0.000
68  Turkmenistan 5.636 1.016 1.533 0.517 0.417 0.199 0.037
69  Hungary 5.620 1.171 1.401 0.732 0.259 0.061 0.022
70  Libya 5.566 0.985 1.350 0.553 0.496 0.116 0.148
71  Philippines 5.524 0.775 1.312 0.513 0.643 0.120 0.105
72  Honduras 5.504 0.620 1.205 0.622 0.459 0.197 0.074
73  Belarus 5.483 1.039 1.498 0.700 0.307 0.101 0.154
74  Turkey 5.483 1.148 1.380 0.686 0.324 0.106 0.109
75  Pakistan 5.472 0.652 0.810 0.424 0.334 0.216 0.113
76  Hong Kong 5.430 1.405 1.290 1.030 0.524 0.246 0.291
77  Portugal 5.410 1.188 1.429 0.884 0.562 0.055 0.017
78  Serbia 5.398 0.975 1.369 0.685 0.288 0.134 0.043
79  Greece 5.358 1.154 1.202 0.879 0.131 0.000 0.044
80
Lebanon		 5.358 0.965 1.179 0.785 0.503 0.214 0.136
81  Montenegro 5.347 1.017 1.279 0.729 0.259 0.111 0.081
82  Croatia 5.321 1.115 1.161 0.737 0.380 0.120 0.039
83  Dominican Republic 5.302 0.982 1.441 0.614 0.578 0.120 0.106
84  Algeria 5.295 0.979 1.154 0.687 0.077 0.055 0.135
85  Morocco 5.254 0.779 0.797 0.669 0.460 0.026 0.074
86  China 5.246 0.989 1.142 0.799 0.597 0.029 0.103
87  Azerbaijan 5.201 1.024 1.161 0.603 0.430 0.031 0.176
88
Tajikistan		 5.199 0.474 1.166 0.598 0.292 0.187 0.034
89  Macedonia 5.185 0.959 1.239 0.691 0.394 0.173 0.052
90  Jordan 5.161 0.822 1.265 0.645 0.468 0.130 0.134
91  Nigeria 5.155 0.689 1.172 0.048 0.462 0.201 0.032
92  Kyrgyzstan 5.131 0.530 1.416 0.594 0.540 0.281 0.035
93  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.129 0.915 1.078 0.758 0.280 0.216 0.000
94  Mongolia 5.125 0.914 1.517 0.575 0.395 0.253 0.032
95  Vietnam 5.103 0.715 1.365 0.702 0.618 0.177 0.079
96  Indonesia 5.093 0.899 1.215 0.522 0.538 0.484 0.018
97  Bhutan 5.082 0.796 1.335 0.527 0.541 0.364 0.171
98  Somalia 4.982 0.000 0.712 0.115 0.674 0.238 0.282
99  Cameroon 4.975 0.535 0.891 0.182 0.454 0.183 0.043
100  Bulgaria 4.933 1.054 1.515 0.712 0.359 0.064 0.009
101    Nepal 4.880 0.425 1.228 0.539 0.526 0.302 0.078
102  Venezuela 4.806 0.996 1.469 0.657 0.133 0.056 0.052
103  Gabon 4.758 1.036 1.164 0.404 0.356 0.032 0.052
104  Palestinian Territories 4.743 0.642 1.217 0.602 0.266 0.086 0.076
105  South Africa 4.724 0.940 1.410 0.330 0.516 0.103 0.056
106  Iran 4.707 1.059 0.771 0.691 0.459 0.282 0.129
107  Ivory Coast 4.671 0.541 0.872 0.080 0.467 0.146 0.103
108  Ghana 4.657 0.592 0.896 0.337 0.499 0.212 0.029
109  Senegal 4.631 0.429 1.117 0.433 0.406 0.138 0.082
110  Laos 4.623 0.720 1.034 0.441 0.626 0.230 0.174
111  Tunisia 4.592 0.900 0.906 0.690 0.271 0.040 0.063
112  Albania 4.586 0.916 0.817 0.790 0.419 0.149 0.032
113  Sierra Leone 4.571 0.256 0.813 0.000 0.355 0.238 0.053
114  Congo (Brazzaville) 4.559 0.682 0.811 0.343 0.514 0.091 0.077
115  Bangladesh 4.500 0.532 0.850 0.579 0.580 0.153 0.144
116  Sri Lanka 4.471 0.918 1.314 0.672 0.585 0.307 0.050
117  Iraq 4.456 1.010 0.971 0.536 0.304 0.148 0.095
118  Mali 4.447 0.370 1.233 0.152 0.367 0.139 0.056
119  Namibia 4.441 0.874 1.281 0.365 0.519 0.051 0.064
120  Cambodia 4.433 0.549 1.088 0.457 0.696 0.256 0.065
121  Burkina Faso 4.424 0.314 1.097 0.254 0.312 0.175 0.128
122  Egypt 4.419 0.885 1.025 0.553 0.312 0.092 0.107
123  Mozambique 4.417 0.198 0.902 0.173 0.531 0.206 0.158
124  Kenya 4.410 0.493 1.048 0.454 0.504 0.352 0.055
125  Zambia 4.377 0.562 1.047 0.295 0.503 0.221 0.082
126  Mauritania 4.356 0.557 1.245 0.292 0.129 0.134 0.093
127  Ethiopia 4.350 0.308 0.950 0.391 0.452 0.220 0.146
128  Georgia 4.340 0.853 0.592 0.643 0.375 0.038 0.215
129  Armenia 4.321 0.816 0.990 0.666 0.260 0.077 0.028
130  Myanmar 4.308 0.682 1.174 0.429 0.580 0.598 0.178
131  Chad 4.301 0.358 0.907 0.053 0.189 0.181 0.060
132  Congo (Kinshasa) 4.245 0.069 1.136 0.204 0.312 0.197 0.052
133  India 4.190 0.721 0.747 0.485 0.539 0.172 0.093
134  Niger 4.166 0.131 0.867 0.221 0.390 0.175 0.099
135  Uganda 4.161 0.322 1.090 0.237 0.450 0.259 0.061
136  Benin 4.141 0.378 0.372 0.240 0.440 0.163 0.067
137  Sudan 4.139 0.605 1.240 0.312 0.016 0.134 0.082
138  Ukraine 4.103 0.793 1.413 0.609 0.163 0.187 0.011
139  Togo 3.999 0.259 0.474 0.253 0.434 0.158 0.101
140  Guinea 3.964 0.344 0.792 0.211 0.394 0.185 0.094
141  Lesotho 3.808 0.472 1.215 0.079 0.423 0.116 0.112
142  Angola 3.795 0.730 1.125 0.269 0.000 0.079 0.061
143  Madagascar 3.774 0.262 0.908 0.402 0.221 0.155 0.049
144  Zimbabwe 3.692 0.357 1.094 0.248 0.406 0.132 0.099
145  Afghanistan 3.632 0.332 0.537 0.255 0.085 0.191 0.036
146  Botswana 3.590 1.017 1.174 0.417 0.557 0.042 0.092
147  Malawi 3.587 0.186 0.541 0.306 0.531 0.210 0.080
148  Haiti 3.582 0.315 0.714 0.289 0.025 0.392 0.104
149  Liberia 3.495 0.076 0.858 0.267 0.419 0.206 0.030
150  Syria 3.462 0.689 0.382 0.539 0.088 0.376 0.144
151  Rwanda 3.408 0.332 0.896 0.400 0.636 0.200 0.444
152  Yemen 3.355 0.442 1.073 0.343 0.244 0.083 0.064
153  Tanzania 3.303 0.455 0.991 0.381 0.481 0.270 0.097
154  South Sudan 3.254 0.337 0.608 0.177 0.112 0.224 0.106
155  Central African Republic 3.083 0.024 0.000 0.010 0.305 0.218 0.038
156  Burundi 2.905 0.091 0.627 0.145 0.065 0.149 0.076

2017 report

The 2017 report features the happiness score averaged over the years 2014–2016. For that timespan, Norway was the overall 'happiest' country in the world, even though oil prices had dropped. Close behind were Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland in a tight pack. Four of the top five countries follow the Nordic model. All the top ten countries had high scores in the six categories. The ranked follow-on countries in the top ten are: Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden.

Table

Table of data for 2017:[32]

Overall Rank Change in rank Country Score Change in score GDP per capita Social support Healthy life expectancy Freedom to make life choices Generosity Trust Residual
1 Increase 3  Norway 7.537 Increase 0.039 1.616 1.534 0.797 0.635 0.362 0.316 2.277
2 Decrease 1  Denmark 7.522 Decrease 0.004 1.482 1.551 0.793 0.626 0.355 0.401 2.314
3 Steady  Iceland 7.504 Increase 0.003 1.481 1.611 0.834 0.627 0.476 0.154 2.323
4 Decrease 2   Switzerland 7.494 Decrease 0.015 1.565 1.517 0.858 0.620 0.291 0.367 2.277
5 Steady  Finland 7.469 Increase 0.056 1.444 1.540 0.809 0.618 0.245 0.383 2.430
6 Increase 1  Netherlands 7.377 Increase 0.038 1.504 1.429 0.811 0.585 0.470 0.283 2.295
7 Decrease 1  Canada 7.316 Decrease 0.088 1.479 1.481 0.835 0.611 0.436 0.287 2.187
8 Steady  New Zealand 7.314 Decrease 0.020 1.406 1.548 0.817 0.614 0.500 0.383 2.046
9 Steady  Australia 7.284 Decrease 0.029 1.484 1.510 0.844 0.602 0.478 0.301 2.065
10 Steady  Sweden 7.284 Decrease 0.007 1.494 1.478 0.831 0.613 0.385 0.384 2.098
11 Steady  Israel 7.213 Decrease 0.054 1.375 1.376 0.838 0.406 0.330 0.085 2.802
12 Increase 2  Costa Rica 7.079 Decrease 0.008 1.110 1.416 0.760 0.580 0.215 0.100 2.899
13 Decrease 1  Austria 7.006 Decrease 0.113 1.487 1.460 0.815 0.568 0.316 0.221 2.139
14 Decrease 1  United States 6.993 Decrease 0.111 1.546 1.420 0.774 0.506 0.393 0.136 2.218
15 Increase 4  Ireland 6.977 Increase 0.070 1.536 1.558 0.810 0.573 0.428 0.298 1.774
16 Steady  Germany 6.951 Decrease 0.043 1.488 1.473 0.799 0.563 0.336 0.277 2.016
17 Increase 1  Belgium 6.891 Decrease 0.038 1.464 1.462 0.818 0.540 0.232 0.251 2.124
18 Increase 2  Luxembourg 6.863 Decrease 0.008 1.742 1.458 0.845 0.597 0.283 0.319 1.620
19 Increase 4  United Kingdom 6.714 Decrease 0.011 1.442 1.496 0.805 0.508 0.493 0.265 1.704
20 Increase 4  Chile 6.652 Decrease 0.053 1.253 1.284 0.819 0.377 0.327 0.082 2.510
21 Increase 7  United Arab Emirates 6.648 Increase 0.075 1.626 1.266 0.727 0.608 0.361 0.324 1.735
22 Decrease 5  Brazil 6.635 Decrease 0.317 1.107 1.431 0.617 0.437 0.162 0.111 2.769
23 Increase 4  Czech Republic 6.609 Increase 0.013 1.353 1.434 0.754 0.491 0.088 0.037 2.452
24 Increase 2  Argentina 6.599 Decrease 0.051 1.185 1.440 0.695 0.495 0.109 0.060 2.614
25 Decrease 4  Mexico 6.578 Decrease 0.200 1.153 1.211 0.710 0.413 0.121 0.133 2.837
26 Decrease 4  Singapore 6.572 Decrease 0.167 1.692 1.354 0.949 0.550 0.346 0.464 1.216
27 Increase 3  Malta 6.527 Increase 0.039 1.343 1.488 0.822 0.589 0.575 0.153 1.557
28 Increase 1  Uruguay 6.454 Decrease 0.091 1.218 1.412 0.719 0.579 0.175 0.178 2.172
29 Increase 10  Guatemala 6.454 Increase 0.130 0.872 1.256 0.540 0.531 0.283 0.077 2.894
30 Decrease 5  Panama 6.452 Decrease 0.249 1.234 1.373 0.706 0.550 0.211 0.071 2.307
31 Increase 1  France 6.442 Decrease 0.036 1.431 1.388 0.844 0.470 0.130 0.173 2.006
32 Increase 1  Thailand 6.424 Decrease 0.050 1.128 1.426 0.647 0.580 0.572 0.032 2.040
33 Increase 2  Taiwan 6.422 Increase 0.043 1.434 1.385 0.794 0.361 0.258 0.064 2.127
34 Increase 3  Spain 6.403 Increase 0.042 1.384 1.532 0.889 0.409 0.190 0.071 1.928
35 Increase 1  Qatar 6.375 Steady 1.871 1.274 0.710 0.604 0.330 0.439 1.145
36 Decrease 5  Colombia 6.357 Decrease 0.124 1.071 1.402 0.595 0.477 0.149 0.047 2.616
37 Decrease 3  Saudi Arabia 6.344 Decrease 0.035 1.531 1.287 0.590 0.450 0.148 0.273 2.065
38 Increase 5  Trinidad and Tobago 6.168 Steady 1.361 1.380 0.520 0.519 0.325 0.009 2.053
39 Increase 2  Kuwait 6.105 Decrease 0.134 1.633 1.260 0.632 0.496 0.228 0.215 1.640
40 Increase 5  Slovakia 6.098 Increase 0.020 1.325 1.505 0.713 0.296 0.137 0.024 2.098
41 Increase 1  Bahrain 6.087 Decrease 0.131 1.488 1.323 0.653 0.537 0.173 0.257 1.656
42 Increase 5  Malaysia 6.084 Increase 0.079 1.291 1.285 0.619 0.402 0.417 0.066 2.004
— —  Europe[a] 6.080 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
43 Increase 5  Nicaragua 6.071 Increase 0.079 0.737 1.287 0.653 0.448 0.302 0.131 2.514
44 Increase 7  Ecuador 6.008 Increase 0.032 1.001 1.286 0.686 0.455 0.150 0.140 2.290
45 Increase 1  El Salvador 6.003 Decrease 0.065 0.910 1.182 0.596 0.432 0.078 0.090 2.715
46 Increase 11  Poland 5.973 Increase 0.138 1.292 1.446 0.699 0.520 0.158 0.059 1.798
47 Increase 2  Uzbekistan 5.971 Decrease 0.016 0.786 1.549 0.498 0.658 0.416 0.247 1.817
48 Increase 2  Italy 5.964 Decrease 0.013 1.395 1.445 0.853 0.256 0.173 0.028 1.813
49 Increase 7  Russia 5.963 Increase 0.107 1.282 1.469 0.547 0.374 0.052 0.033 2.206
50 Increase 2  Belize 5.956 Steady 0.908 1.081 0.450 0.548 0.240 0.097 2.632
51 Increase 2  Japan 5.920 Decrease 0.001 1.417 1.436 0.913 0.506 0.121 0.164 1.363
52 Increase 8  Lithuania 5.902 Increase 0.089 1.315 1.474 0.629 0.234 0.010 0.012 2.228
53 Decrease 15  Algeria 5.872 Decrease 0.483 1.092 1.146 0.618 0.233 0.069 0.146 2.568
54 Increase 14  Latvia 5.850 Increase 0.290 1.261 1.405 0.639 0.326 0.153 0.074 1.994
55 Steady  Moldova 5.838 Decrease 0.059 0.729 1.252 0.589 0.241 0.209 0.010 2.808
56 Increase 2  South Korea 5.838 Increase 0.003 1.402 1.128 0.900 0.258 0.207 0.063 1.880
57 Increase 14  Romania 5.825 Increase 0.297 1.218 1.150 0.685 0.457 0.134 0.004 2.177
58 Increase 1  Bolivia 5.823 Increase 0.001 0.834 1.228 0.474 0.559 0.226 0.060 2.443
59 Increase 6  Turkmenistan 5.822 Increase 0.164 1.131 1.493 0.438 0.418 0.250 0.259 1.833
60 Decrease 6  Kazakhstan 5.819 Decrease 0.100 1.285 1.384 0.606 0.437 0.202 0.119 1.785
61 Increase 1  North Cyprus 5.810 Increase 0.039 1.347 1.186 0.835 0.471 0.267 0.155 1.549
62 Increase 1  Slovenia 5.758 Decrease 0.010 1.341 1.453 0.791 0.573 0.243 0.045 1.313
63 Increase 1  Peru 5.715 Decrease 0.028 1.035 1.219 0.630 0.450 0.127 0.047 2.207
64 Increase 2  Mauritius 5.629 Decrease 0.019 1.189 1.210 0.638 0.491 0.361 0.042 1.698
65 Increase 4  Cyprus 5.621 Increase 0.075 1.356 1.131 0.845 0.355 0.271 0.041 1.621
66 Increase 6  Estonia 5.611 Increase 0.094 1.321 1.477 0.695 0.479 0.099 0.183 1.358
67 Decrease 6  Belarus 5.569 Decrease 0.233 1.157 1.445 0.638 0.295 0.155 0.156 1.723
68 Decrease 1  Libya 5.525 Decrease 0.090 1.102 1.358 0.520 0.466 0.152 0.093 1.835
69 Increase 9  Turkey 5.500 Increase 0.111 1.198 1.338 0.638 0.301 0.047 0.100 1.879
70 Steady  Paraguay 5.493 Decrease 0.045 0.933 1.507 0.579 0.474 0.224 0.091 1.685
71 Increase 4  Hong Kong 5.472 Increase 0.014 1.552 1.263 0.943 0.491 0.374 0.294 0.555
72 Increase 10  Philippines 5.430 Increase 0.151 0.858 1.254 0.468 0.585 0.194 0.099 1.973
73 Increase 13  Serbia 5.395 Increase 0.218 1.069 1.258 0.651 0.209 0.220 0.041 1.947
74 Increase 6  Jordan 5.336 Increase 0.033 0.991 1.239 0.605 0.418 0.172 0.120 1.791
75 Increase 16  Hungary 5.324 Increase 0.179 1.286 1.343 0.688 0.176 0.078 0.037 1.716
76 Decrease 3  Jamaica 5.311 Decrease 0.199 0.926 1.368 0.641 0.474 0.234 0.055 1.612
— — World 5.305[b] N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
77 Decrease 3  Croatia 5.293 Decrease 0.195 1.223 0.968 0.701 0.256 0.248 0.043 1.854
78 Decrease 1  Kosovo 5.279 Decrease 0.122 0.951 1.138 0.541 0.260 0.320 0.057 2.011
79 Increase 4  China 5.273 Increase 0.028 1.081 1.161 0.741 0.473 0.029 0.023 1.765
80 Increase 12  Pakistan 5.269 Increase 0.137 0.727 0.673 0.402 0.235 0.315 0.124 2.792
81 Decrease 2  Indonesia 5.262 Decrease 0.052 0.996 1.274 0.492 0.443 0.612 0.015 1.429
82 Decrease 38  Venezuela 5.250 Decrease 0.834 1.128 1.431 0.617 0.154 0.065 0.064 1.789
83 Increase 5  Montenegro 5.237 Increase 0.076 1.121 1.238 0.667 0.195 0.198 0.088 1.729
84 Increase 6  Morocco 5.235 Increase 0.084 0.878 0.775 0.598 0.408 0.032 0.088 2.456
85 Decrease 4  Azerbaijan 7.342 Decrease 0.057 1.154 1.152 0.541 0.398 0.045 0.181 1.762
86 Increase 3  Dominican Republic 5.230 Increase 0.075 1.079 1.402 0.575 0.553 0.187 0.114 1.319
87 Increase 12  Greece 5.227 Increase 0.194 1.289 1.239 0.810 0.096 0.000 0.043 1.749
88 Increase 5  Lebanon 5.225 Increase 0.096 1.075 1.130 0.735 0.289 0.264 0.038 1.695
89 Increase 5  Portugal 5.195 Increase 0.072 1.315 1.367 0.796 0.498 0.095 0.016 1.108
90 Decrease 3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.182 Increase 0.019 0.982 1.069 0.705 0.204 0.329 0.000 1.892
91 Increase 13  Honduras 5.181 Increase 0.310 0.731 1.144 0.583 0.348 0.236 0.073 2.066
92 Increase 3  Macedonia 5.175 Increase 0.054 1.065 1.208 0.645 0.326 0.254 0.060 1.617
93 Decrease 17  Somalia 5.151 Decrease 0.289 0.023 0.721 0.114 0.602 0.292 0.282 3.117
94 Increase 2  Vietnam 5.074 Increase 0.013 0.789 1.277 0.652 0.571 0.235 0.088 1.462
95 Increase 8  Nigeria 5.074 Increase 0.199 0.784 1.216 0.057 0.395 0.231 0.026 2.365
96 Increase 4  Tajikistan 5.041 Increase 0.045 0.525 1.271 0.529 0.472 0.249 0.146 1.849
97 Decrease 13  Bhutan 5.011 Decrease 0.185 0.885 1.340 0.496 0.502 0.474 0.173 1.140
98 Decrease 13  Kyrgyzstan 5.004 Decrease 0.181 0.596 1.394 0.553 0.455 0.429 0.039 1.537
99 Increase 8    Nepal 4.962 Increase 0.169 0.480 1.179 0.504 0.440 0.394 0.073 1.891
100 Increase 1  Mongolia 4.955 Increase 0.048 1.027 1.493 0.558 0.394 0.338 0.033 1.111
101 Increase 15  South Africa 4.829 Increase 0.370 1.055 1.385 0.187 0.479 0.139 0.073 1.511
102 Decrease 4  Tunisia 4.805 Decrease 0.240 1.007 0.868 0.613 0.290 0.050 0.087 1.890
103 Increase 5  Palestinian Territories 4.775 Increase 0.021 0.716 1.156 0.566 0.255 0.114 0.089 1.879
104 Increase 16  Egypt 4.735 Increase 0.373 0.990 0.997 0.520 0.282 0.129 0.114 1.702
105 Increase 24  Bulgaria 4.714 Increase 0.497 1.161 1.434 0.708 0.289 0.113 0.011 0.996
106 Increase 5  Sierra Leone 4.709 Increase 0.074 0.368 0.984 0.006 0.319 0.293 0.071 2.668
107 Increase 7  Cameroon 4.695 Increase 0.182 0.564 0.946 0.133 0.430 0.236 0.051 2.334
108 Decrease 3  Iran 4.692 Decrease 0.121 1.157 0.712 0.639 0.249 0.387 0.049 1.499
109 Steady  Albania 4.644 Decrease 0.011 0.996 0.804 0.731 0.381 0.201 0.040 1.490
110 Steady  Bangladesh 4.608 Decrease 0.035 0.587 0.735 0.533 0.478 0.172 0.124 1.979
111 Increase 2  Namibia 4.574 Steady 0.964 1.098 0.339 0.520 0.077 0.093 1.482
112 Increase 10  Kenya 4.553 Increase 0.197 0.560 1.068 0.310 0.453 0.445 0.065 1.652
113 N/A  Mozambique 4.550 N/A 0.234 0.871 0.107 0.481 0.322 0.179 2.356
114 Increase 5  Myanmar 4.545 Increase 0.150 0.367 1.123 0.398 0.514 0.838 0.189 1.115
115 Increase 13  Senegal 4.535 Increase 0.316 0.479 1.180 0.409 0.378 0.183 0.115 1.790
116 Decrease 10  Zambia 4.514 Decrease 0.281 0.636 1.003 0.258 0.462 0.250 0.078 1.827
117 Decrease 5  Iraq 4.497 Decrease 0.078 1.103 0.979 0.501 0.289 0.200 0.107 1.319
118 Increase 16  Gabon 4.465 Increase 0.344 1.198 1.156 0.357 0.312 0.044 0.076 1.323
119 Decrease 4  Ethiopia 4.460 Decrease 0.048 0.339 0.865 0.353 0.409 0.313 0.165 2.016
120 Decrease 3  Sri Lanka 4.440 Increase 0.025 1.010 1.260 0.625 0.561 0.491 0.074 0.419
121 Steady  Armenia 4.376 Increase 0.016 0.901 1.007 0.638 0.198 0.083 0.027 1.521
122 Decrease 4  India 4.315 Decrease 0.089 0.792 0.754 0.455 0.470 0.232 0.092 1.519
123 Increase 7  Mauritania 4.292 Increase 0.091 0.648 1.272 0.285 0.096 0.202 0.137 1.652
124 Increase 1  Congo (Brazzaville) 4.291 Increase 0.019 0.809 0.832 0.290 0.435 0.121 0.080 1.724
125 Increase 1  Georgia 4.286 Increase 0.034 0.951 0.571 0.650 0.309 0.054 0.252 1.500
126 Increase 1  Congo (Kinshasa) 4.280 Increase 0.044 0.092 1.229 0.191 0.236 0.246 0.060 2.225
127 Increase 8  Mali 4.190 Increase 0.117 0.476 1.281 0.169 0.307 0.183 0.105 1.668
128 Increase 11  Ivory Coast 4.180 Increase 0.264 0.603 0.905 0.049 0.448 0.201 0.130 1.845
129 Increase 11  Cambodia 4.168 Increase 0.261 0.602 1.006 0.430 0.633 0.386 0.068 1.043
130 Increase 3  Sudan 4.139 Steady 0.660 1.214 0.291 0.015 0.182 0.090 1.687
131 Decrease 7  Ghana 4.120 Decrease 0.156 0.667 0.874 0.296 0.423 0.257 0.025 1.578
132 Decrease 9  Ukraine 4.096 Decrease 0.228 0.895 1.395 0.576 0.123 0.270 0.023 0.814
133 Increase 13  Uganda 4.081 Increase 0.342 0.381 1.130 0.218 0.443 0.326 0.057 1.526
134 Increase 11  Burkina Faso 4.032 Increase 0.293 0.350 1.043 0.216 0.324 0.251 0.120 1.727
135 Increase 7  Niger 4.028 Increase 0.172 0.162 0.993 0.269 0.364 0.229 0.139 1.874
136 Decrease 4  Malawi 3.970 Decrease 0.186 0.233 0.513 0.315 0.467 0.287 0.073 2.082
137 Increase 7  Chad 3.936 Increase 0.173 0.438 0.954 0.041 0.162 0.216 0.054 2.071
138 Decrease 7  Zimbabwe 3.875 Decrease 0.318 0.376 1.083 0.197 0.336 0.189 0.095 1.598
139 N/A  Lesotho 3.808 N/A 0.521 1.190 0.000 0.391 0.157 0.119 1.430
140 Increase 1  Angola 3.795 Decrease 0.071 0.858 1.104 0.050 0.000 0.098 0.070 1.614
141 Increase 13  Afghanistan 3.794 Increase 0.434 0.401 0.582 0.181 0.106 0.312 0.061 2.151
142 Decrease 5  Botswana 3.766 Decrease 0.208 1.122 1.222 0.342 0.505 0.099 0.099 0.378
143 Increase 10  Benin 3.657 Increase 0.173 0.431 0.435 0.210 0.426 0.208 0.061 1.886
144 Increase 4  Madagascar 3.644 Decrease 0.051 0.306 0.913 0.375 0.189 0.209 0.067 1.585
145 Decrease 9  Haiti 3.603 Decrease 0.425 0.369 0.640 0.277 0.030 0.489 0.100 1.697
146 Increase 1  Yemen 3.593 Decrease 0.131 0.592 0.935 0.310 0.249 0.104 0.057 1.346
147 Decrease 4  South Sudan 3.591 Decrease 0.241 0.397 0.601 0.163 0.147 0.286 0.117 1.880
148 Increase 2  Liberia 3.533 Decrease 0.089 0.119 0.872 0.230 0.333 0.267 0.039 1.673
149 Increase 2  Guinea 3.507 Decrease 0.100 0.245 0.791 0.194 0.349 0.265 0.111 1.552
150 Increase 5  Togo 3.495 Increase 0.192 0.305 0.432 0.247 0.380 0.197 0.096 1.837
151 Increase 1  Rwanda 3.471 Decrease 0.044 0.369 0.946 0.326 0.582 0.253 0.455 0.540
152 Increase 4  Syria 3.462 Increase 0.393 0.777 0.396 0.501 0.082 0.494 0.151 1.062
153 Decrease 4  Tanzania 3.349 Decrease 0.317 0.511 1.042 0.365 0.390 0.354 0.066 0.621
154 Increase 3  Burundi 2.905 Steady 0.092 0.630 0.152 0.060 0.204 0.084 1.683
155 N/A  Central African Republic 2.693 N/A 0.000 0.000 0.019 0.271 0.281 0.057 2.066

2016 report

Table

Legend:[33]

  Explained by: GDP per capita
  Explained by: Social support
  Explained by: Healthy life expectancy
  Explained by: Freedom to make life choices
  Explained by: Generosity
  Trust or absence of corruption, as explained by the publicly perceived absence of corruption in government and business[34]

Italics: States with limited recognition and disputed territories

Overall Rank
[35][36] 		Country Score Change Over
Prior Year 		GDP per capita Social support Healthy life expectancy Freedom to make life choices Generosity Trust
1  Denmark 7.526 Decrease -0.401
2  Switzerland 7.509 Increase 0.035
3  Iceland 7.501 Steady 0.000
4  Norway 7.498 Increase 0.082
5  Finland 7.413 Decrease -0.259
6  Canada 7.404 Decrease -0.041
7  Netherlands 7.339 Decrease -0.119
8  New Zealand 7.334 Decrease -0.097
9  Australia 7.313 Increase 0.002
10  Sweden 7.291 Decrease -0.017
11  Israel 7.267 Increase 0.258
12  Austria 7.119 Decrease -0.003
13  United States 7.104 Decrease -0.261
14  Costa Rica 7.087 Decrease -0.171
15  Puerto Rico 7.039 Increase 0.446
16  Germany 6.994 Increase 0.486
17  Brazil 6.952 Increase 0.474
18  Belgium 6.929 Decrease -0.311
19  Ireland 6.907 Decrease -0.238
20  Luxembourg 6.871 Steady 0.000
21  Mexico 6.778 Increase 0.225
22  Singapore 6.739 Increase 0.099
23  United Kingdom 6.725 Decrease -0.161
24  Chile 6.705 Increase 0.826
25  Panama 6.701 Increase 0.191
26  Argentina 6.650 Increase 0.457
27  Czech Republic 6.596 Increase 0.126
28  United Arab Emirates 6.573 Decrease -0.161
29  Uruguay 6.545 Increase 0.804
30  Malta 6.488 Steady 0.000
31  Colombia 6.481 Increase 0.399
32  France 6.478 Decrease -0.336
33  Thailand 6.474 Increase 0.631
34  Saudi Arabia 6.379 Decrease -0.794
35  Taiwan 6.379 Increase 0.190
36  Qatar 6.375 Steady 0.000
37  Spain 6.361 Decrease -0.711
38  Algeria 6.355 Steady 0.000
39  Guatemala 6.324 Increase 0.211
40  Suriname 6.269 Steady 0.000
41  Kuwait 6.239 Increase 0.164
42  Bahrain 6.218 Steady 0.000
43  Trinidad and Tobago 6.168 Increase 0.336
44  Venezuela 6.084 Decrease -0.762
45  Slovakia 6.078 Increase 0.814
46  El Salvador 6.068 Increase 0.572
47  Malaysia 6.005 Decrease -0.132
48  Nicaragua 5.992 Increase 1.285
49  Uzbekistan 5.987 Increase 0.755
50  Italy 5.977 Decrease -0.735
51  Ecuador 5.976 Increase 0.966
52  Belize 5.956 Decrease -0.495
53  Japan 5.921 Decrease -0.446
54  Kazakhstan 5.919 Increase 0.322
55  Moldova 5.897 Increase 0.959
56  Russia 5.856 Increase 0.738
57  Poland 5.835 Increase 0.098
58  South Korea 5.835 Increase 0.295
59  Bolivia 5.822 Increase 0.322
60  Lithuania 5.813 Decrease -0.069
61  Belarus 5.802 Increase 0.165
62  Northern Cyprus 5.771 Steady 0.000
63  Slovenia 5.768 Decrease -0.044
64  Peru 5.743 Increase 0.730
65  Turkmenistan 5.658 Steady 0.000
66  Mauritius 5.648 Steady 0.000
67  Libya 5.615 Steady 0.000
68  Latvia 5.560 Increase 0.872
69  Cyprus 5.546 Decrease -0.692
70  Paraguay 5.538 Increase 0.536
71  Romania 5.528 Increase 0.310
72  Estonia 5.517 Increase 0.165
73  Jamaica 5.510 Decrease -0.698
74  Croatia 5.488 Decrease -0.333
75  Hong Kong 5.458 Decrease -0.053
76  Somalia 5.440 Steady 0.000
77 Kosovo Kosovo 5.401 Increase 0.298
78  Turkey 5.389 Increase 0.216
79  Indonesia 5.314 Increase 0.295
80  Jordan 5.303 Decrease -0.638
81  Azerbaijan 5.291 Increase 0.642
82  Philippines 5.279 Increase 0.425
83  People's Republic of China 5.245 Increase 0.525
84  Bhutan 5.196 Steady 0.000
85  Kyrgyzstan 5.185 Increase 0.515
86  Serbia 5.177 Increase 0.426
87  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.163 Increase 0.263
88  Montenegro 5.161 Decrease -0.035
89  Dominican Republic 5.155 Increase 0.070
90  Morocco 5.151 Steady 0.000
91  Hungary 5.145 Increase 0.070
92  Pakistan 5.132 Decrease -0.374
93  Lebanon 5.129 Increase 0.059
94  Portugal 5.123 Decrease -0.282
95  North Macedonia 5.121 Increase 0.627
96  Vietnam 5.061 Decrease -0.299
97 Somaliland Somaliland region 5.057 Steady 0.000
98  Tunisia 5.045 Steady 0.000
99  Greece 5.033 Decrease -1.294
100  Tajikistan 4.996 Increase 0.474
101  Mongolia 4.907 Increase 0.298
102  Laos 4.876 Decrease -0.344
103  Nigeria 4.875 Increase 0.075
104  Honduras 4.871 Decrease -0.375
105  Iran 4.813 Decrease -0.507
106  Zambia 4.795 Increase 0.381
107  Nepal 4.793 Increase 0.135
108 State of Palestine Palestinian Territories[37] 4.754 Increase 0.321
109  Albania 4.655 Increase 0.021
110  Bangladesh 4.643 Increase 0.170
111  Sierra Leone 4.635 Increase 1.028
112  Iraq 4.575 Steady 0.000
113  Namibia 4.574 Decrease -0.312
114  Cameroon 4.513 Increase 0.413
115  Ethiopia 4.508 Steady 0.000
116  South Africa 4.459 Decrease -0.686
117  Sri Lanka 4.415 Increase 0.037
118  India 4.404 Decrease -0.750
119  Myanmar 4.395 Steady 0.000
120  Egypt 4.362 Decrease -0.996
121  Armenia 4.360 Decrease -0.226
122  Kenya 4.356 Decrease -0.044
123  Ukraine 4.324 Decrease -0.701
124  Ghana 4.276 Decrease -0.600
125  Republic of the Congo 4.272 Steady 0.000
126  Georgia 4.252 Increase 0.561
127  Democratic Republic of the Congo 4.236 Steady 0.000
128  Senegal 4.219 Decrease -0.328
129  Bulgaria 4.217 Increase 0.373
130  Mauritania 4.201 Increase 0.052
131  Zimbabwe 4.193 Increase 0.639
132  Malawi 4.156 Decrease -0.205
133  Sudan 4.139 Steady 0.000
134  Gabon 4.121 Steady 0.000
135  Mali 4.073 Increase 0.059
136  Haiti 4.028 Increase 0.274
137  Botswana 3.974 Decrease -0.765
138  Comoros 3.956 Steady 0.000
139  Ivory Coast 3.916 Steady 0.000
140  Cambodia 3.907 Increase 0.045
141  Angola 3.866 Steady 0.000
142  Niger 3.856 Decrease -0.144
143  South Sudan 3.832 Steady 0.000
144  Chad 3.763 Decrease -0.025
145  Burkina Faso 3.739 Decrease -0.170
146  Uganda 3.739 Decrease -0.356
147  Yemen 3.724 Decrease -0.754
148  Madagascar 3.695 Decrease -0.285
149  Tanzania 3.666 Decrease -0.460
150  Liberia 3.622 Decrease -0.080
151  Guinea 3.607 Steady 0.000
152  Rwanda 3.515 Decrease -0.700
153  Benin 3.484 Increase 0.154
154  Afghanistan 3.360 Steady 0.000
155  Togo 3.303 Increase 0.100
156  Syria 3.069 Steady 0.000
157  Burundi 2.905 Steady 0.000

2013 report

Table
Rank[38] Country Happiness
1  Denmark 7.693
2  Norway 7.655
3   Switzerland 7.650
4  Netherlands 7.512
5  Sweden 7.480
6  Canada 7.477
7  Finland 7.389
8  Austria 7.369
9  Iceland 7.355
10  Australia 7.350
11  Israel 7.301
12  Costa Rica 7.257
13  New Zealand 7.221
14  United Arab Emirates 7.144
15  Panama 7.143
16  Mexico 7.088
17  United States 7.082
18  Ireland 7.076
19  Luxembourg 7.054
20  Venezuela 7.039
21  Belgium 6.967
22  United Kingdom 6.883
23  Oman 6.853
24  Brazil 6.849
25  France 6.764
26  Germany 6.672
27  Qatar 6.666
28  Chile 6.587
29  Argentina 6.562
30  Singapore 6.546
31  Trinidad and Tobago 6.519
32  Kuwait 6.515
33  Saudi Arabia 6.480
34  Cyprus 6.466
35  Colombia 6.416
36  Thailand 6.371
37  Uruguay 6.355
38  Spain 6.322
39  Czech Republic 6.290
40  Suriname 6.269
41  South Korea 6.267
42  Taiwan 6.221
43  Japan 6.064
44  Slovenia 6.060
45  Italy 6.021
46  Slovakia 5.969
47  Guatemala 5.965
48  Malta 5.964
49  Ecuador 5.865
50  Bolivia 5.857
51  Poland 5.822
52  El Salvador 5.809
53  Moldova 5.791
54  Paraguay 5.779
55  Peru 5.776
56  Malaysia 5.760
57  Kazakhstan 5.671
58  Croatia 5.661
59  Turkmenistan 5.628
60  Uzbekistan 5.623
61  Angola 5.589
62  Albania 5.550
63  Vietnam 5.533
64  Hong Kong 5.523
65  Nicaragua 5.507
66  Belarus 5.504
67  Mauritius 5.477
68  Russia 5.464
69  North Cyprus 5.463
70  Greece 5.435
71  Lithuania 5.426
72  Estonia 5.426
73  Algeria 5.422
74  Jordan 5.414
75  Jamaica 5.374
76  Indonesia 5.348
77  Turkey 5.345
78  Libya 5.340
79  Bahrain 5.312
80  Montenegro 5.299
81  Pakistan 5.292
82  Nigeria 5.248
83  Kosovo 5.222
84  Honduras 5.142
85  Portugal 5.101

Summaries of report topics

Each World Happiness Report include additional information aside from the ranking of nations. These are from contributing authors and most focus on a particular theme. The data used to rank countries in each report is drawn from the Gallup World Poll,[39] as well as other sources such as the World Values Survey, in some of the reports.

The Gallup World Poll questionnaire[3] measures 14 areas within its core questions: (1) business & economic, (2) citizen engagement, (3) communications & technology, (4) diversity (social issues), (5) education & families, (6) emotions (well-being), (7) environment & energy, (8) food & shelter, (9) government and politics, (10) law & order (safety), (11) health, (12) religion & ethics, (13) transportation, and (14) work.

World Happiness Reports were issued in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 (an update), 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.

2023 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2023 World Happiness Report was a triannual analysis of 2020–2022, heavily influenced by COVID-19 and other significant challenges.[40]

For the sixth consecutive year, Finland was ranked on top, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel and the Netherlands. In the top-10 rankings, Israel jumped five places, while Switzerland fell four places. Lithuania was the only new country in the top-20.[41]

2022 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2022 World Happiness Report included a section looking at possible genetic effects on individual happiness.[42]

Finland is in the top position in the world happiness report in 2022. Followed by Denmark and Iceland in second and third place. Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and New Zealand, were among the top 10 'happiest' countries in the world Happiness, Benevolence, and Trust During COVID-19 and Beyond.

Among 146 countries ranked by the report, Afghanistan scores the lowest point of 2.523 and was ranked as the least 'happy' country in the world in 2022.

2021 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2021 World Happiness Report, released on March 20, 2021, ranks 156 countries based on an average of three years of surveys between 2017 and 2019. The 2020 report especially focuses on the environment – social, urban, and natural, and includes links between happiness and sustainable development.[43]

Finland holds the rank of the happiest country in the world for the fourth consecutive year.[44] It is followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Netherlands. Afghanistan received the lowest score, with South Sudan and Rwanda just above it. In addition to country rankings, this is the second year that the World Happiness Report ranks cities. The happiest city in the world is Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The report shows that the happiness ranking of cities is almost identical to that of the countries they are in.

2020 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2020 World Happiness Report, released on March 20, 2020, ranks 156 countries based on an average of three years of surveys between 2017 and 2019. The 2020 report especially focuses on the environment – social, urban, and natural, and includes links between happiness and sustainable development.[45]

Finland holds the rank of the happiest country in the world for the third consecutive year.[46] It is followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway. Afghanistan received the lowest score, with South Sudan and Zimbabwe just above it.[47] In addition to country rankings, this is the first year that the World Happiness Report ranks cities. The happiest city in the world is Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The report shows that the happiness ranking of cities is almost identical to that of the countries they are in.

In 2020, the editorial team expanded and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve became a co-editor, joining John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre became a fourth research pillar for the report. Associate editors were Lara Aknin, Haifang Huang and Shun Wang, and Sharon Paculor was recognized as production editor. From 2020, Gallup became a full data partner.

2019 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2019 World Happiness Report focuses community. According to the 2019 Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world,[48] with Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and The Netherlands holding the next top positions.

The second chapter of the report, 'Changing World Happiness', measures year-to-year changes in happiness across countries. For this, changes are reported from 2005-2008 to 2016-2018. Of the 132 countries with data for 2005-2008 and 2016-2018, 106 had significant changes: 64 were significant increases and 42 were significant decreases. Benin was the top gainer, while Venezuela showed the greatest decrease. The chapter also considers how happiness has been affected by changes in the quality of government. The third chapter considers happiness and voting behaviour, with data suggesting that happier people are more likely to vote, and to vote for incumbents.

The fourth chapter is an examination of happiness and pro-social behaviour, finding that people are more likely to derive happiness from helping others when they feel free to choose whether or how to help, when they feel connected to the people they are helping, and when they can see how their help is making a difference.

The final topic of the report, digital and information technologies and happiness, is covered in the remaining chapters.

The editorial team for the 2019 report was expanded to include Lara Aknin as associate editor.

2018 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2018 iteration was released on 20 March and focused on the relation between happiness and migration.

2017 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The fifth World Happiness Report emphasizes the importance of the social foundations of happiness, which are analysed by comparing the life experiences between the top and bottom ten countries in the year’s happiness rankings. Norway topped the global happiness rankings in this report, jumping from fourth place in 2016 to first in 2017. It was followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland. The second chapter of the report focuses on the global rankings and calculates that bringing the social foundations from the lowest levels up to world average levels in 2014-2016 would increase life evaluations by almost two points. This means that social foundations effects are together larger than those of GDP per capita and healthy life expectancy.

The third chapter focuses on economic growth and wellbeing in China, and shows that unemployment and changes in the social safety nets explain both the post-1990 fall in happiness levels and the subsequent recovery since 2005. The fourth chapter discusses the reasons why countries in Africa are generally lagging behind others in life evaluations. The fifth chapter analyses key determinants of happiness, including income, mental health, and physical health. The sixth chapter considers the determinant of employment and work in particular, emphasising the importance of employment for happiness across the world. The final chapter uses happiness history over the past ten years, analysing the case of the United States through the lens of social foundations of happiness.

2016 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2016 World Happiness Report -Rome Addition was issued in two parts as an update. Part one had four chapters: (1) Setting the Stage, (2) The Distribution of World Happiness, (3) Promoting Secular Ethics, and (4) Happiness and Sustainable Development: Concepts and Evidence. Part two has six chapters: (1) Inside the Life Satisfaction Blackbox, (2) Human Flourishing, the Common Good, and Catholic Social Teaching, (3) The Challenges of Public Happiness: An Historical-Methodological Reconstruction, (4) The Geography of Parenthood and Well-Being: Do Children Make Us Happy, Where and Why?, and (5) Multidimensional Well-Being in Contemporary Europe: An Analysis of the Use of a Self-Organizing Map Applied to Share Data.

Chapter 1, Setting the Stage is written by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, and Jeffrey Sachs. This chapter briefly surveys the happiness movement ("Increasingly, happiness is considered to be the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy.") gives an overview of the 2016 reports and synopsis of both parts of the 2016 Update Rome Addition.

Chapter 2, The Distribution of World Happiness is written by John F. Helliwell, Hailing Huang, and Shun Wang. This chapter reports happiness levels of countries and proposes the use of inequalities of happiness among individuals as a better measure for inequality than income inequality, and that all people in a population fare better in terms of happiness when there is less inequality in happiness in their region. It includes data from the World Health Organization and World Development Indicators, as well as Gallup World Poll. It debunks the notion that people rapidly adapt to changes in life circumstances and quickly return to an initial life satisfaction baseline, finding instead that changes in life circumstances such as government policies, major life events (unemployment, major disability) and immigration change people's baseline life satisfaction levels. This chapter also addresses the measure for affect (feelings), finding that positive affect (happiness, laughter, enjoyment) has much "large and highly significant impact" on life satisfaction than negative affect (worry, sadness, anger). The chapter also examines differences in happiness levels explained by the factors of (1) social support, (2) income, (3) healthy life, (4) trust in government and business, (5) perceived freedom to make life decisions and (6) generosity.

Chapter 3, Promoting Secular Ethics is written by Richard Layard, This chapter argues for a revival of an ethical life and world, harkening to times when religious organizations were a dominant force. It calls on secular non-profit organizations to promote "ethical living in a way that provides inspiration, uplift, joy and mutual respect", and gives examples of implementation by a non-profit founded by Richard Layard,[49] the chapter author, Action for Happiness, which offers online information from positive psychology and Buddhist teachings.

Chapter 4, Happiness and Sustainable Development: Concepts and Evidence is written by Jeffrey Sachs. This chapter identifies ways that sustainable development indicators (economic, social and environmental factors) can be used to explain variations in happiness. It concludes with a report about an appeal to include subjective well-being indicators into the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Part Two 2016 Special Rome Edition was edited by Jeffrey Sacks, Leonardo Becchetti and Anthony Arnett.

Chapter 1, Inside the Life Satisfaction Blackbox is written by Leonardo Becchetti, Luisa Carrado,[50] and Paolo Sama. This chapter proposes using quality of life measurements (a broader range of variables that life evaluation) in lieu of or in addition to overall life evaluations in future World Happiness Reports.

Chapter 2, Human Flourishing, the Common Good, and Catholic Social Teaching is written by Anthony Annett. This chapter contains explanations for three theories: (1) It is human nature to broadly define happiness and understand the connection between happiness and the common good, (2) that the current understanding of individuality is stripped of ties to the common good, and (3) that there is a need to restore the common good as central value for society. The chapter also proposes Catholic school teachings as a model for restoring the common good as a dominant value.

Chapter 3, The Challenges of Public Happiness: An Historical-Methodological Reconstruction is written by Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zemagni. This chapter contemplates Aristotelian concepts of happiness and virtue as they pertain to and support the findings in the World Happiness Reports regarding the impact of social support, trust in government, and equality of happiness.

Chapter 4, The Geography of Parenthood and Well-Being. Do Children Make Us Happy, Where and Why? is written by Luca Stanca.[51] This chapter examines other research findings that children do not add happiness to parents. Using data from the World Values Survey, it finds that, with the exception of widowed parents, having children has a negative effect on life satisfaction for parents in 2/3 of the 105 countries studied, with parents in richer countries suffering more. Once parents are old, life satisfaction increases. The chapter concludes that "existing evidence is not conclusive" and a statement that the causes for the low life satisfaction levels may be that for richer countries, having children is valued less, and in poorer countries, people suffer in financial and time costs when they have children.

Chapter 5, Multidimensional Well-Being in Contemporary Europe: Analysis of the Use of Self-Organizing Map Allied to SHARE Data is written by Mario Lucchini, Luca Crivelli[52] and Sara della Bella. This chapter contains a study of well-being data from older European adults. It finds that this chapter's study results were consistent with the World Happiness Report 2016 update: positive affect (feelings) have a stronger impact on a person's satisfaction with life than do negative affect (feelings).

2015 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2015 World Happiness Report has eight chapters: (1) Setting the Stage, (2) The Geography of World Happiness, (3) How Does Subjective Well-being Vary Around the World by Gender and Age?, (4) How to Make Policy When Happiness is the Goal, (5) Neuroscience of Happiness, (6) Healthy Young Minds Transforming the Mental Health of Children, (7) Human Values, Civil Economy, and Subjective Well-being, and (8) Investing in Social Capital.

Chapter 1, Setting the Stage is written by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs. This chapter celebrates the success of the happiness movement ("Happiness is increasingly considered a proper means of social progress and public policy."), citing the OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, a referendum in the EU requiring member nations to measure happiness, and the success of the World Happiness reports (with readership at about 1.5 million), and the adoption of happiness by the government of the United Arab Emirates, and other areas. It sets an aspiration of the inclusion of subjective well-being into the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (not fulfilled), and outlines the 2015 report. It also address the use of the term Happiness, identifying the cons (narrowness of the term, breath of the term, flakiness), and defining the use of the term for the reasons that the 2011 UN General Assembly Resolution 65/309 Happiness Towards A Holistic Approach to Development[53] and April 2012 UN High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm,[54] Bhutan's Gross National Happiness[55] philosophy, the term's "convening and attention attracting power", and the asset in a "double usage of happiness" as an emotional report and life evaluation.

Chapter 2, The Geography of Happiness is written by John F. Helliwell, Hailing Huang and Shun Wang. This chapter reports the happiness of nations measured by life evaluations. It includes color coded maps and an analysis of six factors the account for the differences: (1) social support in terms of someone to count on in times of need, (2) GDP per capita (income), (3) life expectancy (in terms of healthy years), (4) sense of corruption in government and business (trust), (5) perceived freedom to make life decisions, and (6) generosity. The first three factors were found to have the biggest impact on a population's happiness. Crisis (natural disasters and economic crisis) the quality of governance, and social support were found to be the key drivers for changes in national happiness levels, with the happiness of nations undergoing a crisis in which people have a strong sense of social support falling less than nations where people do not have a strong sense of social support.

Chapter 3, How Does Subjective Well-being Vary Around the Globe by Gender and Age? is written by Nicole Fortin, John F. Helliwell and Shun Wang. This chapter uses data for 12 experiences: happiness (the emotion), smiling or laughing, enjoyment, feeling safe at night, feeling well rested, and feeling interested, as well as anger, worry, sadness, depression, stress and pain to examine differences by gender and age. Findings reported include that there is not a lot of difference in life evaluations between men and women across nations or within ages in a nation (women have slightly higher life evaluations than men: 0.09 on a ten-point scale). It reports that overall happiness falls into a U shape with age on the x axis and happiness on the y, with the low point being middle age (45-50) for most nations (in some happiness does not go up much in later life, so the shape is more of a downhill slide), and that the U shape holds for feeling well rested in all regions. It finds that men generally feel safer at night than women but, when comparing countries, people in Latin America have the lowest sense of safety at night, while people in East Asia and Western Europe have the highest sense of safety at night. It also finds that as women age their sense of happiness declines and stress increases but worry decreases, as all people age their laughter, enjoyment and finding something of interest also declines, that anger is felt everywhere almost equally by men and women, stress peaks in the Middle Ages, and women experience depression more than men. It finds that where older people are happier, there is a sense of social support, freedom to make life choices and generosity (and income does not factor in as heavily as these three factors).

Chapter 4, How to Make Policy When Happiness is the Goal is written by Richard Layard and Gus O'Donnell. This chapter advocates for a "new form of cost-benefit analysis" for government expenditures in which a "critical level of extra happiness" yielded by a project is established. It contemplates the prioritization of increasing happiness of the happy vs. reducing misery of the miserable, as well as the issues of discount rate (weight) for the happiness of future generations. It includes a technical annex with equations for calculating the maximization for happiness in public expenditure, tax policy, regulations, the distribution of happiness and a discount rate.

Chapter 5, Neuroscience of Happiness is written by Richard J. Dawson and Brianna S. Schuyler. This chapter reports on research in brain science and happiness, identifying four aspects that account for happiness: (1) sustained positive emotion, (2) recovery of negative emotion (resilience), (3) empathy, altruism and pro-social behavior, and (4) mindfulness (mind-wandering/affective sickness). It concludes that the brain's elasticity indicates that one can change one's sense of happiness and life satisfaction (separate but overlapping positive consequences) levels by experiencing and practicing mindfulness, kindness, and generosity; and calls for more research on these topics.

Chapter 6, Healthy Young Minds: Transforming the Mental Health of Children is written by Richard Layard and Ann Hagell.[56] This chapter identifies emotional development as of primary importance, (compared to academic and behavioral factors) in a child's development and determination of whether a child will be a happy and well-functioning adult. It then focuses on the issue of mental illness in children, citing the statistic that while worldwide 10% of the world's children (approximately 200 million) suffer from diagnosable mental health problems, even in the richest nations, only one quarter of these children of them are in treatment. It identifies the action steps to treating children with mental health problems: local community-lead child well-being programs, training health care professions to identify mental health problems in children, parity of esteem for mental and physical problems and treatment, access to evidence-based mental health treatment for families and children, promotion of well-being in schools with well-being codes that inform the organizational behavior of schools, training teachers to identify mental health in children, teachings of life skills, measuring of children's well-being by schools, development of free apps available internationally to treat mental illness in teens, and inclusion of mental health with the goal of physical health in the Sustainable Development goals. The chapter lists the benefits of treating children's mental health: improved educational performance, reduction in youth crimes, improved earnings and employment in adulthood, and better parenting of the next generation.

Chapter 7, Human Values, Civil Economy and Subjective Well-being is written by Leonardo Bechhetti,[57] Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zamagni. This chapter begins with a critique of the field of economics ("Economics today looks like physics before the discovery of electrons"), identifying reductionism in which humans are conceived of as 100% self-interested individuals (economic reductionism), profit maximization is prioritized over all other interests (corporate reductionism), and societal values are narrowly identified with GDP and ignore environmental, cultural, spiritual and relational aspects (value reductionism). The chapter them focuses on a theoretical approach termed "Civil Economy paradigm", and research about it demonstrating that going beyond reductionism leads to greater socialization for people and communities, and a rise in priority of the values of reciprocity, friendship, trustworthiness, and benevolence. It makes the argument that positive social relationships (trust, benevolence, shared social identities) yield happiness and positive economic outcomes. It ends with recommendations for move from the dominant model of elite-competitive democracy to a participatory/deliberative model of democracy with bottom-up political and economic participation and incentives for non-selfish actions (altruistic people) and corporations with wider goals than pure profit (ethical and environmentally responsible corporations).

Chapter 8, Investing in Social Capital is written by Jeffrey Sachs. This chapter focuses on "pro-sociality" ("individuals making decisions for the common good that may conflict with short-run egoistic incentives"). It identifies pro-social behaviors: honesty, benevolence, cooperation and trustworthiness. It recommends investment in social capital through education, moral instruction, professional codes of conduct, public censure and condemnation of violators of public trust, and public policies to narrow income inequalities for countries where there is generalized distrust of government and business, pervasive corruption and lawless behavior (such as tax evasion).

2013 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2013 World Happiness Report has eight chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) World Happiness: Trends, Explanations and Distribution, (3) Mental Illness and Unhappiness, (4) The Objective Benefits of Subjective Well-being, (5) Restoring Virtue Ethics in the Quest for Happiness, (6) Using Well-being as a Guide to Policy, (7) The OECD Approach to Measuring Subjective Well-being, and (8) From Capabilities to Contentment: Testing the Links between Human Development and Life Satisfaction.

Chapter 1, Introduction is written by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs. It synopsizes the chapters and gives a discussion of the term happiness.

Chapter 2, World Happiness: Trends, Explanations and Distributions is written by John F. Helliwell and Shun Wang. It provides ratings among countries and regions for satisfaction with life using the Cantril Ladder, positive and negative affect (emotions), and log of GDP per capita, years of healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on in times of trouble, perceptions of corruption, prevalence of generosity, and freedom to make life choices.

Chapter 3, Mental Illness and Unhappiness is written by Richard Layard, Dan Chisholm, Vikram Patel, and Shekhar Saxel. It identifies the far ranging prevalence of mental illness around the world (10% of the world's population at one time) and provides the evidence showing that "mental illness is a highly influential - and...the single biggest - determinant of misery". It concludes with examples of interventions implemented by countries around the world.

Chapter 4, The Objective Benefits of Subjective Well-being is written by Jan-Emmanuel de Neve, Ed Diener, Louis Tay and Cody Xuereb. It provides an explanation of the benefits of subjective well-being (happiness) on health & longevity, income, productivity & organizational behavior, and individual & social behavior. It touches on the role of happiness in human evolution through rewarding behaviors that increase evolutionary success and beneficial to survival.

Chapter 5, Restoring Virtue Ethics in the Quest for Happiness is written by Jeffrey Sachs. It argues that "a renewed focus on the role of ethics, and in particular of virtuous behavior, in happiness could lead us to new and effective strategies for raising individual, national and global well-being", looking to the eightfold noble path (the teachings of the dharma handed down in the Buddhist tradition that encompass wise view/understanding, wise intention, wise speech, wise action, wise livelihood, and effort, concentration and mindfulness), Aristotelian philosophy (people are social animals, "with individual happiness secured only within a political community...[which] should organize its institutions to promote virtuous behavior), and Christian doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas ("placing happiness in the context of servicing God's will"). It gives an explanation of the evolution of the field of economics up t the "failures of hyper-commercialism" and suggests an antidote based on four global ethical values: (1) non-violence and respect for life, (2) justice and solidarity, (3) honesty and tolerance, and (4) mutual esteem and partnership.

Chapter 6, Using Well-being as Guide to Public Policy is written by Gus O'Donnell. This chapter gives a status report on the issues governments grapple with in adopting well-being and happiness measures and goals for policy, from understanding the data or establishing whether a specific policy improves well-being, to figuring out how to "incorporate well-being into standard policy making". It provides examples of efforts to measure happiness and well-being from Bhutan, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, and cities and communities in the US, Canada, Australia and Tasmania. It identifies the key policy areas of health, transport and education for policy makers to focus on and includes discussions about interpersonal comparability (concentrating on "getting people out of misery" instead of making happy people happier), discount rate (do we invest more in happiness for people today or in the future?) and putting a monetary value on happiness for policy trade off decisions (e.g. If "a 10% reduction in noise increase SWB by one unit, then we can infer that a 10% reduction is "worth" $1,000" when $1,000 would increase a person's SWB by one unit).

Chapter 7, The OECD Approach to Measuring Subjective Well-being is written by Martine Durand and Conal Smith. This chapter was written the same year the OECD issued its Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being,[58] and is a synopsis of such. It includes a definition for subjective well-being: life evaluation (a person's reflection on their life and life circumstances), affect (positive and negative emotions) and eudaimonia; core measures, a discussion on data collection processes, survey and sample design, other aspects of using subjective well-being metrics, and ideas on how policy-makers can use subjective well-being data. It surveys the status of wealthy countries subjective well-being data collection process, and identifies future directions of experimentation and better income measures, citing the Easterlin Paradox as the basis for this call.

Chapter 8, From Capabilities to Contentment: Testing the Links between Human Development and Life Satisfaction is written by Jon Hall.[59] This chapter explains the components of human development using objective metrics: (1) education, health and command over income and nutrition resources, (2) participation and freedom, (3) human security, (4) equity, and (5) sustainability; key findings of the Human Development Index (HDI) ("weak relationship between economic growth and changes in health and education" as well as life expectancy), and examines the relationship between the HDI and happiness, finding that (1) components of the HDI "correlate strongly with better life evaluations", and (2) there is a strong relationship between life evaluation and the "non-income HDI". It contemplates measurement of conditions of life beyond the HDI that are important to well-being: (1) better working conditions, (2) security against crime and physical violence, (3) participation in economic and political activities, (4) freedom and (5) inequality. The concludes with the statements that the HDI and SWB have similar approaches and importantly connected, with the two disciplines offering alternative and complementary views of development.

2012 World Happiness Report

Descriptions

The 2012 World Happiness Report was issued at the UN High Level Meeting Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm[60] by editors John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs. Part one has an introduction (chapter 1) and three chapters: (2) the State of World Happiness, (3) Causes of Happiness and Misery, Some Policy Implications. Part two has three chapters, each a case study, of Bhutan, the United Kingdom Office of National Statistics, and the OECD.

Chapter 1, The Introduction is by Jeffrey Sachs and references Buddha and Aristotle, identifies today's era as the anthropocene, and identifies the reasons GDP is not a sufficient measure to guide governments and society.

Chapter 2, The State of World Happiness, is written by John F. Helliwell and Shun Wang,[61] and contains a discussion of subjective well-being measures that ranges from the validity of subjective well-being measures to the seriousness of happiness, happiness set points and cultural comparisons, and it includes data from the Gallup World Poll, European Social Survey, and the World Values Survey.[62]

Chapter 3, The Causes of Happiness and Misery is written by Richard Layard, Andrew Clark,[63] and Claudia Senik,[64] and contemplates research on the impact on happiness of the external factors of income, work, community and governance, values and religion, as well as the internal factors of mental health, physical health, family experience, education, and gender and age.

Chapter 4, Some Policy Implications, written by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs, calls for a greater understanding on how governments can measure happiness, the determinants of happiness, and use of happiness data and findings about determinants for policy purposes. It also highlights the role of GDP ("GDP is important but not all that is important") as a guide to policy makers, the importance that policy makers should place on providing opportunities for employment; the role of happiness in policy making ("Making happiness an objective of governments would not therefore lead to the "servile society", and indeed quite the contrary...Happiness comes from an opportunity to mold one's own future, and thus depends on a robust level of freedom."); the role of values and religion ("In well-functioning societies there is widespread support for the universal value that we should treat others as we would like them to treat us. We need to cultivate social norms so that the rich and powerful are never given a feeling of impunity vis-à-vis the rest of society."); calls for wider access to psychological therapies in a section on mental health citing the fact that one third of all families are affected by mental illness; identifies improvements in physical health as "probably the single most important factor that has improved human happiness" and calls out the rich-poor gap in health care between rich and poor countries; calls on workplace and governmental policies that encourage work–life balance and reduce stress, including family support and child care; and states that "Universal access to education is widely judged to be a basic human right..." The chapter concludes with a philosophical discussion.

Chapter 5, Case Study: Bhutan Gross National Happiness and the GNH Index is written by Karma Ura,[65] Sabine Alkire,[66] and Tsoki Zangmo. It gives a short history of the development of the Gross National Happiness (GNH) concept in Bhutan, and an explanation of the GNH index, data collection and data analysis process, including the rating methodology to determine if an individual experiences happiness sufficiency levels, as well as the policy and lifestyle implications

Chapter 6, Case Study: ONS Measuring Subjective Well-being: The UK Office of National Statistics Experience is written by Stephen Hicks. It covers the basis for the creation of the Measuring National Well-being Programme[67] in the UK's Office of National Statistics[68] (ONS), and the development of their methodology for measuring well-being.

Chapter 5, Case Study OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being is an explanation about the process and rationale the OECD was undertaking to develop its Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being,[69] which it issued in 2013.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Score not included in the original report, but was attained by adding up Europe's scores and then dividing for an average: 6.08044.
  2. ^ Score not included in the original report, but was attained by adding up all the scores and then dividing for an average: 5.3053935483871.

References

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External links

Lists of countries by quality of life rankings
Categories