The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network has recently released its annual World Happiness Report.
According to the report, Finland has been named the happiest place in the world for a sixth year running.
The report is based on data from analytics researcher Gallup which asked people in 137 countries to rate their own happiness.
Top 10 Countries in the World Happiness Report
The report ranked the top 10 happiest countries, with Finland topping the chart for the sixteenth term. Denmark, Iceland, Israel, and the Netherlands are the other countries in the top five.
Other European countries such as Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and Luxembourg also made the top 10. New Zealand was the only non-European country to make it to the top 10. The rankings are based on a range of factors such as social support, life expectancy, income, health, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption.
According to the World Happiness Report 2023 Top 10 happiest countries in the world
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Luxembourg
- New Zealand
Least Happy Countries
Afghanistan was the least happy, according to the report by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Countries such as Zimbabwe, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been highlighted by the report as being among the unhappiest nations, largely due to factors such as high levels of corruption and low life expectancy.
India’s Position in the World Happiness Report
India has been placed in the 126th position on the list of the countries ranked by the UN World Happiness report 2023.
Though position of India in the World Happiness Report has improved from 136 to 126, the country is still behind its neighboring countries such as China, Nepal and Bangladesh. Despite being the world’s fastest-growing economy, India’s ranking in the report has consistently been low, leading some to question how it can be ranked lower than countries in turmoil.
The World’s Least Happy Countries
The World Happiness Report also highlights the least happy countries, with Taliban-controlled Afghanistan ranking as the unhappiest country out of the 137 nations surveyed. The report also highlighted other nations such as Lebanon, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo as being among the unhappiest countries, largely due to factors such as high levels of corruption and low life expectancy.
About the World Happiness Report
The World Happiness Report is a comprehensive analysis of happiness levels across the world based on various criteria, including both domestic and global factors. The report gauges happiness based on feedback from a nationally representative sample of individuals regarding their current life satisfaction levels. The first report was published in 2012 and has been released annually since then, typically in March.
Russia and Ukraine in the World Happiness Report
Despite the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, both countries rank higher than India in the World Happiness Report, with Russia ranked 70th and Ukraine ranked 92nd. The report indicates that both countries experienced increased levels of kindness in 2020 and 2021, but in 2022, Ukraine saw a sharp rise in benevolence while it declined in Russia.
