World Happiness Report

The World Happiness Report is an annual publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. It contains articles, and rankings of national happiness based on respondent ratings of their own lives,[1] which the report also correlates with various life factors.[2] As of March 2020, Finland was ranked the happiest country in the world three times in a row.[3][4]

The Editors of the report are John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve. Associate Editors are Lara B. Aknin, Shun Wang, and Haifang Huang.

History

In July 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 65/309 Happiness: Towards a Holistic Definition of Development[5] 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,[6] which was chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan, a nation that adopted gross national happiness instead of gross domestic product as their main development indicator.[7]

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,[8] drawing international attention.[9] The 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 since then has been issued on an annual basis with the exception of 2014.[10] The report primarily uses data from the Gallup World Poll. Each annual report is available to the public to download on the World Happiness Report website.[11]

Methods and philosophy

The rankings of national happiness are based on a Cantril ladder survey. 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.[12] The report correlates the results with various life factors.[2]

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.

Annual report topics

World Happiness Reports were issued in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 (an update), 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. In addition to ranking countries happiness and well-being levels, each report has contributing authors and most focus on a subject. The data used to rank countries in each report is drawn from the Gallup World Poll,[13] as well as other sources such as the World Values Survey, in some of the reports. The Gallup World Poll questionnaire[14] 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.

2019 World Happiness Report

The 2018 iteration was released on 20 March and focused on the relation between happiness and migration. According to the 2019 Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world,[15] with Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and The Netherlands holding the next top positions. The World Happiness Report 2018 ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants. The main focus of this year's report, in addition to its usual ranking of the levels and changes in happiness around the world, is on migration within and between countries. The overall rankings of country happiness are based on the pooled results from Gallup World Poll surveys from 2015–2017, and show both change and stability. Four countries have held the top spot in the last four reports: Denmark, Switzerland, Norway and now Finland. All the top countries tend to have high values for all six of the key variables that have been found to support well-being: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity. Among the top countries, differences are small enough that year-to-year changes in the rankings are to be expected.

The analysis of happiness changes from 2008–2015 shows Togo as the biggest gainer, moving up 17 places in the overall rankings from 2015. The biggest loser is Venezuela, down 2.2 points. Five of the report's seven chapters deal primarily with migration, as summarized in Chapter 1. For both domestic and international migrants, the report studies the happiness of those migrants and their host communities, and also of those in the countryside or in the country of origin. The results are generally positive. Perhaps the most striking finding of the whole report is that a ranking of countries according to the happiness of their immigrant populations is almost exactly the same as for the rest of the population. The immigrant happiness rankings are based on the full span of Gallup data from 2005 to 2017, sufficient to have 117 countries with more than 100 immigrant respondents. The ten happiest countries in the overall rankings also make up ten of the top eleven spots in the ranking of immigrant happiness. Finland is at the top of both rankings in this report, with the happiest immigrants, and the happiest population in general. While convergence to local happiness levels is quite rapid, it is not complete, as there is a ‘footprint' effect based on the happiness in each source country. This effect ranges from 10% to 25%. This footprint effect explains why immigrant happiness is less than that of the locals in the happiest countries, while being greater in the least happy countries.

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,[16] 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,[17] 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.[18] 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[19] 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[20] and April 2012 UN High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm,[21] Bhutan's Gross National Happiness[22] 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.[23] 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,[24] 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,[25] 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.[26] 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[27] 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,[28] 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.[29] Chapter 3, The Causes of Happiness and Misery is written by Richard Layard, Andrew Clark,[30] and Claudia Senik,[31] 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,[32] Sabine Alkire,[33] 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[34] in the UK's Office of National Statistics[35] (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,[36] which it issued in 2013.

International 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: real GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption. 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.

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.

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 Healthy life expectancy 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:[37] 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 2 1  Denmark 7.522 0.004 1.482 1.551 0.793 0.626 0.355 0.401 2.314 3  Iceland 7.504 0.003 1.481 1.611 0.834 0.627 0.476 0.154 2.323 4 2   Switzerland 7.494 0.015 1.565 1.517 0.858 0.620 0.291 0.367 2.277 5  Finland 7.469 0.056 1.444 1.540 0.809 0.618 0.245 0.383 2.430 6 1  Netherlands 7.377 0.038 1.504 1.429 0.811 0.585 0.470 0.283 2.295 7 1  Canada 7.316 0.088 1.479 1.481 0.835 0.611 0.436 0.287 2.187 8  New Zealand 7.314 0.020 1.406 1.548 0.817 0.614 0.500 0.383 2.046 9  Australia 7.284 0.029 1.484 1.510 0.844 0.602 0.478 0.301 2.065 10  Sweden 7.284 0.007 1.494 1.478 0.831 0.613 0.385 0.384 2.098 11  Israel 7.213 0.054 1.375 1.376 0.838 0.406 0.330 0.085 2.802 12 2  Costa Rica 7.079 0.008 1.110 1.416 0.760 0.580 0.215 0.100 2.899 13 1  Austria 7.006 0.113 1.487 1.460 0.815 0.568 0.316 0.221 2.139 14 1  United States 6.993 0.111 1.546 1.420 0.774 0.506 0.393 0.136 2.218 15 4  Ireland 6.977 0.070 1.536 1.558 0.810 0.573 0.428 0.298 1.774 16  Germany 6.951 0.043 1.488 1.473 0.799 0.563 0.336 0.277 2.016 17 1  Belgium 6.891 0.038 1.464 1.462 0.818 0.540 0.232 0.251 2.124 18 2  Luxembourg 6.863 0.008 1.742 1.458 0.845 0.597 0.283 0.319 1.620 19 4  United Kingdom 6.714 0.011 1.442 1.496 0.805 0.508 0.493 0.265 1.704 20 4  Chile 6.652 0.053 1.253 1.284 0.819 0.377 0.327 0.082 2.510 21 7  United Arab Emirates 6.648 0.075 1.626 1.266 0.727 0.608 0.361 0.324 1.735 22 5  Brazil 6.635 0.317 1.107 1.431 0.617 0.437 0.162 0.111 2.769 23 4  Czech Republic 6.609 0.013 1.353 1.434 0.754 0.491 0.088 0.037 2.452 24 2  Argentina 6.599 0.051 1.185 1.440 0.695 0.495 0.109 0.060 2.614 25 4  Mexico 6.578 0.200 1.153 1.211 0.710 0.413 0.121 0.133 2.837 26 4  Singapore 6.572 0.167 1.692 1.354 0.949 0.550 0.346 0.464 1.216 27 3  Malta 6.527 0.039 1.343 1.488 0.822 0.589 0.575 0.153 1.557 28 1  Uruguay 6.454 0.091 1.218 1.412 0.719 0.579 0.175 0.178 2.172 29 10  Guatemala 6.454 0.130 0.872 1.256 0.540 0.531 0.283 0.077 2.894 30 5  Panama 6.452 0.249 1.234 1.373 0.706 0.550 0.211 0.071 2.307 31 1  France 6.442 0.036 1.431 1.388 0.844 0.470 0.130 0.173 2.006 32 1  Thailand 6.424 0.050 1.128 1.426 0.647 0.580 0.572 0.032 2.040 33 2  Taiwan 6.422 0.043 1.434 1.385 0.794 0.361 0.258 0.064 2.127 34 3  Spain 6.403 0.042 1.384 1.532 0.889 0.409 0.190 0.071 1.928 35 1  Qatar 6.375 1.871 1.274 0.710 0.604 0.330 0.439 1.145 36 5  Colombia 6.357 0.124 1.071 1.402 0.595 0.477 0.149 0.047 2.616 37 3  Saudi Arabia 6.344 0.035 1.531 1.287 0.590 0.450 0.148 0.273 2.065 38 5  Trinidad and Tobago 6.168 1.361 1.380 0.520 0.519 0.325 0.009 2.053 39 2  Kuwait 6.105 0.134 1.633 1.260 0.632 0.496 0.228 0.215 1.640 40 5  Slovakia 6.098 0.020 1.325 1.505 0.713 0.296 0.137 0.024 2.098 41 1  Bahrain 6.087 0.131 1.488 1.323 0.653 0.537 0.173 0.257 1.656 42 5  Malaysia 6.084 0.079 1.291 1.285 0.619 0.402 0.417 0.066 2.004 — —  Europe[Note 1] 6.080 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 43 5  Nicaragua 6.071 0.079 0.737 1.287 0.653 0.448 0.302 0.131 2.514 44 7  Ecuador 6.008 0.032 1.001 1.286 0.686 0.455 0.150 0.140 2.290 45 1  El Salvador 6.003 0.065 0.910 1.182 0.596 0.432 0.078 0.090 2.715 46 11  Poland 5.973 0.138 1.292 1.446 0.699 0.520 0.158 0.059 1.798 47 2  Uzbekistan 5.971 0.016 0.786 1.549 0.498 0.658 0.416 0.247 1.817 48 2  Italy 5.964 0.013 1.395 1.445 0.853 0.256 0.173 0.028 1.813 49 7  Russia 5.963 0.107 1.282 1.469 0.547 0.374 0.052 0.033 2.206 50 2  Belize 5.956 0.908 1.081 0.450 0.548 0.240 0.097 2.632 51 2  Japan 5.920 0.001 1.417 1.436 0.913 0.506 0.121 0.164 1.363 52 8  Lithuania 5.902 0.089 1.315 1.474 0.629 0.234 0.010 0.012 2.228 53 15  Algeria 5.872 0.483 1.092 1.146 0.618 0.233 0.069 0.146 2.568 54 14  Latvia 5.850 0.290 1.261 1.405 0.639 0.326 0.153 0.074 1.994 55  Moldova 5.838 0.059 0.729 1.252 0.589 0.241 0.209 0.010 2.808 56 2  South Korea 5.838 0.003 1.402 1.128 0.900 0.258 0.207 0.063 1.880 57 14  Romania 5.825 0.297 1.218 1.150 0.685 0.457 0.134 0.004 2.177 58 1  Bolivia 5.823 0.001 0.834 1.228 0.474 0.559 0.226 0.060 2.443 59 6  Turkmenistan 5.822 0.164 1.131 1.493 0.438 0.418 0.250 0.259 1.833 60 6  Kazakhstan 5.819 0.100 1.285 1.384 0.606 0.437 0.202 0.119 1.785 61 1  North Cyprus 5.810 0.039 1.347 1.186 0.835 0.471 0.267 0.155 1.549 62 1  Slovenia 5.758 0.010 1.341 1.453 0.791 0.573 0.243 0.045 1.313 63 1  Peru 5.715 0.028 1.035 1.219 0.630 0.450 0.127 0.047 2.207 64 2  Mauritius 5.629 0.019 1.189 1.210 0.638 0.491 0.361 0.042 1.698 65 4  Cyprus 5.621 0.075 1.356 1.131 0.845 0.355 0.271 0.041 1.621 66 6  Estonia 5.611 0.094 1.321 1.477 0.695 0.479 0.099 0.183 1.358 67 6  Belarus 5.569 0.233 1.157 1.445 0.638 0.295 0.155 0.156 1.723 68 1  Libya 5.525 0.090 1.102 1.358 0.520 0.466 0.152 0.093 1.835 69 9  Turkey 5.500 0.111 1.198 1.338 0.638 0.301 0.047 0.100 1.879 70  Paraguay 5.493 0.045 0.933 1.507 0.579 0.474 0.224 0.091 1.685 71 4  Hong Kong 5.472 0.014 1.552 1.263 0.943 0.491 0.374 0.294 0.555 72 10  Philippines 5.430 0.151 0.858 1.254 0.468 0.585 0.194 0.099 1.973 73 13  Serbia 5.395 0.218 1.069 1.258 0.651 0.209 0.220 0.041 1.947 74 6  Jordan 5.336 0.033 0.991 1.239 0.605 0.418 0.172 0.120 1.791 75 16  Hungary 5.324 0.179 1.286 1.343 0.688 0.176 0.078 0.037 1.716 76 3  Jamaica 5.311 0.199 0.926 1.368 0.641 0.474 0.234 0.055 1.612 — — World 5.305[Note 2] N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 77 3  Croatia 5.293 0.195 1.223 0.968 0.701 0.256 0.248 0.043 1.854 78 1  Kosovo 5.279 0.122 0.951 1.138 0.541 0.260 0.320 0.057 2.011 79 4  China 5.273 0.028 1.081 1.161 0.741 0.473 0.029 0.023 1.765 80 12  Pakistan 5.269 0.137 0.727 0.673 0.402 0.235 0.315 0.124 2.792 81 2  Indonesia 5.262 0.052 0.996 1.274 0.492 0.443 0.612 0.015 1.429 82 38  Venezuela 5.250 0.834 1.128 1.431 0.617 0.154 0.065 0.064 1.789 83 5  Montenegro 5.237 0.076 1.121 1.238 0.667 0.195 0.198 0.088 1.729 84 6  Morocco 5.235 0.084 0.878 0.775 0.598 0.408 0.032 0.088 2.456 85 4  Azerbaijan 7.342 0.057 1.154 1.152 0.541 0.398 0.045 0.181 1.762 86 3  Dominican Republic 5.230 0.075 1.079 1.402 0.575 0.553 0.187 0.114 1.319 87 12  Greece 5.227 0.194 1.289 1.239 0.810 0.096 0.000 0.043 1.749 88 5  Lebanon 5.225 0.096 1.075 1.130 0.735 0.289 0.264 0.038 1.695 89 5  Portugal 5.195 0.072 1.315 1.367 0.796 0.498 0.095 0.016 1.108 90 3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.182 0.019 0.982 1.069 0.705 0.204 0.329 0.000 1.892 91 13  Honduras 5.181 0.310 0.731 1.144 0.583 0.348 0.236 0.073 2.066 92 3  Macedonia 5.175 0.054 1.065 1.208 0.645 0.326 0.254 0.060 1.617 93 17  Somalia 5.151 0.289 0.023 0.721 0.114 0.602 0.292 0.282 3.117 94 2  Vietnam 5.074 0.013 0.789 1.277 0.652 0.571 0.235 0.088 1.462 95 8  Nigeria 5.074 0.199 0.784 1.216 0.057 0.395 0.231 0.026 2.365 96 4  Tajikistan 5.041 0.045 0.525 1.271 0.529 0.472 0.249 0.146 1.849 97 13  Bhutan 5.011 0.185 0.885 1.340 0.496 0.502 0.474 0.173 1.140 98 13  Kyrgyzstan 5.004 0.181 0.596 1.394 0.553 0.455 0.429 0.039 1.537 99 8    Nepal 4.962 0.169 0.480 1.179 0.504 0.440 0.394 0.073 1.891 100 1  Mongolia 4.955 0.048 1.027 1.493 0.558 0.394 0.338 0.033 1.111 101 15  South Africa 4.829 0.370 1.055 1.385 0.187 0.479 0.139 0.073 1.511 102 4  Tunisia 4.805 0.240 1.007 0.868 0.613 0.290 0.050 0.087 1.890 103 5  Palestinian Territories 4.775 0.021 0.716 1.156 0.566 0.255 0.114 0.089 1.879 104 16  Egypt 4.735 0.373 0.990 0.997 0.520 0.282 0.129 0.114 1.702 105 24  Bulgaria 4.714 0.497 1.161 1.434 0.708 0.289 0.113 0.011 0.996 106 5  Sierra Leone 4.709 0.074 0.368 0.984 0.006 0.319 0.293 0.071 2.668 107 7  Cameroon 4.695 0.182 0.564 0.946 0.133 0.430 0.236 0.051 2.334 108 3  Iran 4.692 0.121 1.157 0.712 0.639 0.249 0.387 0.049 1.499 109  Albania 4.644 0.011 0.996 0.804 0.731 0.381 0.201 0.040 1.490 110  Bangladesh 4.608 0.035 0.587 0.735 0.533 0.478 0.172 0.124 1.979 111 2  Namibia 4.574 0.964 1.098 0.339 0.520 0.077 0.093 1.482 112 10  Kenya 4.553 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 5  Myanmar 4.545 0.150 0.367 1.123 0.398 0.514 0.838 0.189 1.115 115 13  Senegal 4.535 0.316 0.479 1.180 0.409 0.378 0.183 0.115 1.790 116 10  Zambia 4.514 0.281 0.636 1.003 0.258 0.462 0.250 0.078 1.827 117 5  Iraq 4.497 0.078 1.103 0.979 0.501 0.289 0.200 0.107 1.319 118 16  Gabon 4.465 0.344 1.198 1.156 0.357 0.312 0.044 0.076 1.323 119 4  Ethiopia 4.460 0.048 0.339 0.865 0.353 0.409 0.313 0.165 2.016 120 3  Sri Lanka 4.440 0.025 1.010 1.260 0.625 0.561 0.491 0.074 0.419 121  Armenia 4.376 0.016 0.901 1.007 0.638 0.198 0.083 0.027 1.521 122 4  India 4.315 0.089 0.792 0.754 0.455 0.470 0.232 0.092 1.519 123 7  Mauritania 4.292 0.091 0.648 1.272 0.285 0.096 0.202 0.137 1.652 124 1  Congo (Brazzaville) 4.291 0.019 0.809 0.832 0.290 0.435 0.121 0.080 1.724 125 1  Georgia 4.286 0.034 0.951 0.571 0.650 0.309 0.054 0.252 1.500 126 1  Congo (Kinshasa) 4.280 0.044 0.092 1.229 0.191 0.236 0.246 0.060 2.225 127 8  Mali 4.190 0.117 0.476 1.281 0.169 0.307 0.183 0.105 1.668 128 11  Ivory Coast 4.180 0.264 0.603 0.905 0.049 0.448 0.201 0.130 1.845 129 11  Cambodia 4.168 0.261 0.602 1.006 0.430 0.633 0.386 0.068 1.043 130 3  Sudan 4.139 0.660 1.214 0.291 0.015 0.182 0.090 1.687 131 7  Ghana 4.120 0.156 0.667 0.874 0.296 0.423 0.257 0.025 1.578 132 9  Ukraine 4.096 0.228 0.895 1.395 0.576 0.123 0.270 0.023 0.814 133 13  Uganda 4.081 0.342 0.381 1.130 0.218 0.443 0.326 0.057 1.526 134 11  Burkina Faso 4.032 0.293 0.350 1.043 0.216 0.324 0.251 0.120 1.727 135 7  Niger 4.028 0.172 0.162 0.993 0.269 0.364 0.229 0.139 1.874 136 4  Malawi 3.970 0.186 0.233 0.513 0.315 0.467 0.287 0.073 2.082 137 7  Chad 3.936 0.173 0.438 0.954 0.041 0.162 0.216 0.054 2.071 138 7  Zimbabwe 3.875 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 1  Angola 3.795 0.071 0.858 1.104 0.050 0.000 0.098 0.070 1.614 141 13  Afghanistan 3.794 0.434 0.401 0.582 0.181 0.106 0.312 0.061 2.151 142 5  Botswana 3.766 0.208 1.122 1.222 0.342 0.505 0.099 0.099 0.378 143 10  Benin 3.657 0.173 0.431 0.435 0.210 0.426 0.208 0.061 1.886 144 4  Madagascar 3.644 0.051 0.306 0.913 0.375 0.189 0.209 0.067 1.585 145 9  Haiti 3.603 0.425 0.369 0.640 0.277 0.030 0.489 0.100 1.697 146 1  Yemen 3.593 0.131 0.592 0.935 0.310 0.249 0.104 0.057 1.346 147 4  South Sudan 3.591 0.241 0.397 0.601 0.163 0.147 0.286 0.117 1.880 148 2  Liberia 3.533 0.089 0.119 0.872 0.230 0.333 0.267 0.039 1.673 149 2  Guinea 3.507 0.100 0.245 0.791 0.194 0.349 0.265 0.111 1.552 150 5  Togo 3.495 0.192 0.305 0.432 0.247 0.380 0.197 0.096 1.837 151 1  Rwanda 3.471 0.044 0.369 0.946 0.326 0.582 0.253 0.455 0.540 152 4  Syria 3.462 0.393 0.777 0.396 0.501 0.082 0.494 0.151 1.062 153 4  Tanzania 3.349 0.317 0.511 1.042 0.365 0.390 0.354 0.066 0.621 154 3  Burundi 2.905 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:[38]   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[39] Italics: States with limited recognition and disputed territories Overall Rank [40][41] 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 -0.401 2   Switzerland 7.509 0.035 3  Iceland 7.501 0.000 4  Norway 7.498 0.082 5  Finland 7.413 -0.259 6  Canada 7.404 -0.041 7  Netherlands 7.339 -0.119 8  New Zealand 7.334 -0.097 9  Australia 7.313 0.002 10  Sweden 7.291 -0.017 11  Israel 7.267 0.258 12  Austria 7.119 -0.003 13  United States 7.104 -0.261 14  Costa Rica 7.087 -0.171 15  Puerto Rico 7.039 0.446 16  Germany 6.994 0.486 17  Brazil 6.952 0.474 18  Belgium 6.929 -0.311 19  Ireland 6.907 -0.238 20  Luxembourg 6.871 0.000 21  Mexico 6.778 0.225 22  Singapore 6.739 0.099 23  United Kingdom 6.725 -0.161 24  Chile 6.705 0.826 25  Panama 6.701 0.191 26  Argentina 6.650 0.457 27  Czech Republic 6.596 0.126 28  United Arab Emirates 6.573 -0.161 29  Uruguay 6.545 0.804 30  Malta 6.488 0.000 31  Colombia 6.481 0.399 32  France 6.478 -0.336 33  Thailand 6.474 0.631 34  Saudi Arabia 6.379 -0.794 35  Taiwan 6.379 0.190 36  Qatar 6.375 0.000 37  Spain 6.361 -0.711 38  Algeria 6.355 0.000 39  Guatemala 6.324 0.211 40  Suriname 6.269 0.000 41  Kuwait 6.239 0.164 42  Bahrain 6.218 0.000 43  Trinidad and Tobago 6.168 0.336 44  Venezuela 6.084 -0.762 45  Slovakia 6.078 0.814 46  El Salvador 6.068 0.572 47  Malaysia 6.005 -0.132 48  Nicaragua 5.992 1.285 49  Uzbekistan 5.987 0.755 50  Italy 5.977 -0.735 51  Ecuador 5.976 0.966 52  Belize 5.956 -0.495 53  Japan 5.921 -0.446 54  Kazakhstan 5.919 0.322 55  Moldova 5.897 0.959 56  Russia 5.856 0.738 57  Poland 5.835 0.098 58  South Korea 5.835 0.295 59  Bolivia 5.822 0.322 60  Lithuania 5.813 -0.069 61  Belarus 5.802 0.165 62  Northern Cyprus 5.771 0.000 63  Slovenia 5.768 -0.044 64  Peru 5.743 0.730 65  Turkmenistan 5.658 0.000 66  Mauritius 5.648 0.000 67  Libya 5.615 0.000 68  Latvia 5.560 0.872 69  Cyprus 5.546 -0.692 70  Paraguay 5.538 0.536 71  Romania 5.528 0.310 72  Estonia 5.517 0.165 73  Jamaica 5.510 -0.698 74  Croatia 5.488 -0.333 75  Hong Kong 5.458 -0.053 76  Somalia 5.440 0.000 77 Kosovo[Note 3] 5.401 0.298 78  Turkey 5.389 0.216 79  Indonesia 5.314 0.295 80  Jordan 5.303 -0.638 81  Azerbaijan 5.291 0.642 82  Philippines 5.279 0.425 83  People's Republic of China 5.245 0.525 84  Bhutan 5.196 0.000 85  Kyrgyzstan 5.185 0.515 86  Serbia 5.177 0.426 87  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.163 0.263 88  Montenegro 5.161 -0.035 89  Dominican Republic 5.155 0.070 90  Morocco 5.151 0.000 91  Hungary 5.145 0.070 92  Pakistan 5.132 -0.374 93  Lebanon 5.129 0.059 94  Portugal 5.123 -0.282 95  North Macedonia 5.121 0.627 96  Vietnam 5.061 -0.299 97 Somaliland region 5.057 0.000 98  Tunisia 5.045 0.000 99  Greece 5.033 -1.294 100  Tajikistan 4.996 0.474 101  Mongolia 4.907 0.298 102  Laos 4.876 -0.344 103  Nigeria 4.875 0.075 104  Honduras 4.871 -0.375 105  Iran 4.813 -0.507 106  Zambia 4.795 0.381 107    Nepal 4.793 0.135 108 Palestinian Territories[Note 4] 4.754 0.321 109  Albania 4.655 0.021 110  Bangladesh 4.643 0.170 111  Sierra Leone 4.635 1.028 112  Iraq 4.575 0.000 113  Namibia 4.574 -0.312 114  Cameroon 4.513 0.413 115  Ethiopia 4.508 0.000 116  South Africa 4.459 -0.686 117  Sri Lanka 4.415 0.037 118  India 4.404 -0.750 119  Myanmar 4.395 0.000 120  Egypt 4.362 -0.996 121  Armenia 4.360 -0.226 122  Kenya 4.356 -0.044 123  Ukraine 4.324 -0.701 124  Ghana 4.276 -0.600 125  Republic of the Congo 4.272 0.000 126  Georgia 4.252 0.561 127  Democratic Republic of the Congo 4.236 0.000 128  Senegal 4.219 -0.328 129  Bulgaria 4.217 0.373 130  Mauritania 4.201 0.052 131  Zimbabwe 4.193 0.639 132  Malawi 4.156 -0.205 133  Sudan 4.139 0.000 134  Gabon 4.121 0.000 135  Mali 4.073 0.059 136  Haiti 4.028 0.274 137  Botswana 3.974 -0.765 138  Comoros 3.956 0.000 139  Ivory Coast 3.916 0.000 140  Cambodia 3.907 0.045 141  Angola 3.866 0.000 142  Niger 3.856 -0.144 143  South Sudan 3.832 0.000 144  Chad 3.763 -0.025 145  Burkina Faso 3.739 -0.170 146  Uganda 3.739 -0.356 147  Yemen 3.724 -0.754 148  Madagascar 3.695 -0.285 149  Tanzania 3.666 -0.460 150  Liberia 3.622 -0.080 151  Guinea 3.607 0.000 152  Rwanda 3.515 -0.700 153  Benin 3.484 0.154 154  Afghanistan 3.360 0.000 155  Togo 3.303 0.100 156  Syria 3.069 0.000 157  Burundi 2.905 0.000

Criticism

Metrics

Some argue that questioning on overall life status leads humans to overweigh income concerns, rather than happiness. For instance Colombia came 37th in the 2018 World Happiness Index but 1st by daily emotional experience.[42] In 2012 "A Gallup survey on happiest countries had a completely different list [compared with the World Happiness Index], with Panama first, followed by Paraguay, El Salvador, and Venezuela". Similarly a Pew survey of 43 countries in 2014 (which excluded most of Europe) had Mexico, Israel and Venezuela finishing first, second and third.[43]

Others point out that the ranking results are counterintuitive when it come to some dimensions, for "instance if rate of suicide is used as a metric for measuring unhappiness, (the opposite of happiness), then some of the countries which are ranked among the top 20 happiest countries in the world will also feature among the top 20 with the highest suicide rates in the world."[44]

Methodology

From an econometric perspective, some statisticians argue the statistical methodology mentioned in the first world happiness report using 9 domains is unreliable.[45]

Others argue that the World Happiness Report model uses a limited subset of indicators used by other models and does not use an Index function like peer econometric models such as Gross National Well-being Index 2005, Sustainable Society Index of 2008,[46] OECD Better Life Index of 2011, and Bhutan Gross National Happiness Index of 2012, and Social Progress Index of 2013.

Philosophical concerns

From a philosophical perspective, critics argue that measuring the happiness of a group of people is misleading because happiness is an individual matter. They state "[for] the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Tolstoy and several others, happiness is an individual choice that is independent of the society, its structures and enabling or dis-enabling conditions and not something to be measured using variables that can only capture a nation's well-being. This means therefore that one cannot really talk of a happy or unhappy nation, but of happy or unhappy individuals."[44]

See also

• Bhutan GNH Index
• Broad measures of economic progress
• Disability-adjusted life year
• Economics
• Green national product
• Gender-related Development Index
• Genuine Progress Indicator
• Gross National Happiness
• Gross National Well-being
• Happiness economics
• Happy Planet Index
• Human Development Index
• International Happiness Day
• Legatum Prosperity Index
• Leisure satisfaction
• Money-rich, time-poor
• OECD Better Life Index
• Post-materialism
• Progressive utilization theory
• Psychometrics
• Subjective life satisfaction
• Where-to-be-born Index
• Wikiprogress
• World Values Survey
• WIN/GIA

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.
3. Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 97 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition.
4. See the following on statehood criteria:
   • Mendes, Errol (30 March 2010). "Statehood and Palestine for the purposes of Article 12 (3) of the ICC Statute" (PDF). 30 March 2010: 28, 33. Retrieved 2011-04-17: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) "...the Palestinian State also meets the traditional criteria under the Montevideo Convention..."; "...the fact that a majority of states have recognised Palestine as a State should easily fulfill the requisite state practice".
   • McKinney, Kathryn M. (1994). "The Legal Effects of the Israeli-PLO Declaration ofPrinciples: Steps Toward Statehood for Palestine". Seattle University Law Review. Seattle University. 18 (93): 97. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-04-17: "It is possible, however, to argue for Palestinian statehood based on the constitutive theory".
   • McDonald, Avril (Spring 2009). "Operation Cast Lead: Drawing the Battle Lines of the Legal Dispute". Human Rights Brief. Washington College of Law, Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. 25. Retrieved 2011-04-17: "Whether one applies the criteria of statehood set out in the Montevideo Convention or the more widely accepted constitutive theory of statehood, Palestine might be considered a state."

References

1. "FAQ". worldhappiness.report. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
2. "World Happiness Report homepage".
3. Astor, Maggie (March 14, 2018). "Want to Be Happy? Try Moving to Finland". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
4. Pullella, Philip (March 14, 2018). "Finland Is World's Happiest Country, U.S. Discontent Grows: U.N. Report". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
5. "Happiness : towards a holistic approach to development : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly". UN DAG Repository.
6. "Defining a New Economic Paradigm: The Report of the High-Level Meeting on Wellbeing and Happiness". UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.
7. "GNH Survey 2010" (PDF). The Centre for Bhutan Studies. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
8. "Defining a New Economic Paradigm: The Report of the High-Level Meeting on Wellbeing and Happiness". Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.
9. Helliwell, John; Layard, Richard; Sachs, Jeffrey (April 2, 2012). "World Happiness Report" (PDF). Columbia University Earth Institute. Retrieved 2014-06-29. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
10. Kyu Lee (2013-09-09). "Sustainable Development Solutions Network | World Happiness Report 2013". unsdsn.org. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
11. "World Happiness Report".
12. "FAQ". worldhappiness.report.
13. "Methodology - How Does the Gallup World Poll Work?". www.gallup.com.
14. "World Poll Questions - Gallup" (PDF).
15. "This is the world's happiest country". CNN Travel. 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
16. "Why Happiness?". Action for Happiness.
17. "Faculty of Economics - Dr Luisa Corrado". University of Cambridge.
18. "Luca Stanca University of Milan, Milano · Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods DEMM". Research Gate.
19. "Luca Crivelli - Biography". Università della Svizzera italiana.
20. "Happiness : towards a holistic approach to development : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly".
21. "Defining a New Economic Paradigm: The Report of the High-Level Meeting on Wellbeing and Happiness".
22. "2015 GNH Survey Report". Center for Bhutan Studies.
23. "Dr. Ann Hagell". Nuffield Foundation.
24. "Leonardo Becchetti, Professore Ordinario". University of Rome "Tor Vergata".
25. "OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being". March 20, 2013.
26. "Jon Hall - Head of Unit United Nations Development Programme".
27. "Defining a New Economic Paradigm: The Report of the High-Level Meeting on Wellbeing and Happiness". 2012.
28. "Shun Wang -Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, Korea Development Institute". voxeu.org/.
29. "Welcome to the World Values Survey site".
30. "Staff Biography Dr. Andrew Clark". Center for Economic Performance.
31. "Claudia Senik". Economics Serving Society.
32. "Karma Ura". Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18.
33. "Sabina Alkire". Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative.
34. "Well-being". Office for National Statistics.
35. "Welcome to the Office for National Statistics".
36. OECD. "OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being".
37. Helliwell, J.; Layard, R.; Sachs, J. (2017). World Happiness Report 2017. New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network. ISBN 978-0-9968513-5-0.
38. "World Happiness Report 2016 Update". UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network; Earth Institute (University of Columbia). pp. 20–21–22. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 20 Mar 2016.
39. "Chapter 2: The Distribution of World Happiness", World Happiness Report 2016 Update (PDF), p. 4, para. 1, retrieved 20 Mar 2016
40. "2016 Update Report download" (PDF). Retrieved 20 Mar 2016.
41. 2016 Table download (XLS), Figure2.2, retrieved 20 Mar 2016
42. "Who Are the Happiest People in the World?". www.linkedin.com.
43. "That world happiness survey is complete crap". 22 March 2017.
44. https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/columns/can-happiness-really-be-measured/139302.html
45. Yau, Nathan (25 April 2012). "World Happiness Report makes statisticians unhappy".
46. "Data – All countries – Sustainable Society Index". www.ssfindex.com.

External links

• Official website
• Sustainable Development Solutions Network
• The Guardian
• Map of changes of happiness index points in Europe between 2005 and 2016
• Interactive map of countries by happiness score as well as GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption