The Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford has released its annual World Happiness Report, with Finland taking the top spot as the happiest country in the world for the sixth consecutive year. Following closely behind are Denmark and Iceland in second and third place respectively. Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Australia make up the rest of the top ten happiest countries.
Despite some changes in rankings this year, Finland has once again emerged as the happiest country in the world. The United States dropped to 23rd place from its previous ranking of 15th, while the United Kingdom landed in 20th spot overall. The rankings are determined using data collected from the Gallup World Poll, where over 100,000 individuals in 130 countries rate their lives on a scale from zero to ten.
Apart from self-reported happiness levels, researchers also take into account factors such as GDP per capita, life expectancy, levels of individual freedom and perceptions of government corruption. No country scores a perfect ten in happiness but Finland leads with a score of 7.804 followed by Denmark at 7.586.
The report highlights that happiness is not just about material wealth but also about factors such as personal relationships and community engagement. It also emphasizes that promoting well-being should be an integral part of sustainable development efforts.
Overall, this report provides valuable insights into global happiness levels and factors contributing to overall well-being.
The World Happiness Report is published by
