Finland is happiest country in the world for 6th consecutive year

Israel, New Zealand the only non-European nations in top 10
2023-03-23
/
/ New Delhi
Finland-is-happiest-country-in-the-world
Finland is happiest country in the world for 6th consecutive year

Finland taking the top spot for the sixth consecutive year in World Happiness Report

Ever since its conception 11 years ago, the UN has published an annual list of the world's happiest nations. Social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and the absence of corruption are the six main variables that the research uses.
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The World Happiness Report has just unveiled its annual list of the world’s happiest nations, with Finland taking the top spot for the sixth consecutive year. The first World Happiness Report was published in 2012 and since then the UN has published an annual list of the world’s happiest nations, or the places where people are, on average, happier than in other places.

According to a the World Happiness Report, social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and the absence of corruption are the six main variables that the research uses to explain differences in self-reported levels of happiness around the world. This approach is increasingly being used by governments to guide policy towards happiness. Here is a brief look at the top 10 happiest countries of the world.

  1. Finland
  2. Denmark
  3. Iceland
  4. Israel
  5. Netherlands
  6. Sweden
  7. Norway
  8. Switzerland
  9. Luxembourg
  10. New Zealand

The report studies the trends of how happiness is distributed, in many cases unequally, among people. It examines the happiness gap between the top and the bottom halves of the population. This gap is small in countries where almost everyone is very unhappy, and in the top countries where almost no one is unhappy. More generally, people are happier living in countries where the happiness gap is smaller. Happiness gaps globally have been fairly stable, although there are growing gaps in many African countries, adds the report.

This year’s Happiness Report also is reminiscent of the fact that despite several overlapping crises, most populations around the world continue to be remarkably resilient, with global life satisfaction averages in the Covid-19 years 2020-2022 just as high as those in the pre-pandemic years.

For the sixth year in a row, Finland has held the top spot, reports the survey. The lone new entry in the top twenty is Lithuania, which has climbed more than 30 spots since 2017. With average life ratings more than five points lower (on a scale extending from 0 to 10) than in the ten happiest countries, war-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon continue to rank as the two least happy countries in the study, adds the statement.

Jeffrey D Sachs

Jeffrey D Sachs

“The ultimate goal of politics and ethics should be human well-being. The happiness movement shows that well-being is not a ‘soft’ and ‘vague’ idea but rather focuses on areas of life of critical importance: material conditions, mental and physical wealth, personal virtues, and good citizenship. We need to turn this wisdom into practical results to achieve more peace, prosperity, trust, civility – and yes, happiness – in our societies,” says Jeffrey D Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and one of the editors of the report.

Richard Layard

Richard Layard

“The overall goal is a happier society. But we only get there if people make each other happy (and not just themselves). It is an inspiring goal for us as individuals. And it includes the happiness of future generations, and our own mental health,” says Richard Layard who directs the Wellbeing Programme at Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, and another editor of the report.

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