The World Happiness Report is out, and for the sixth year in a row, Finland has been crowned as the happiest nation. The report - published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network - ranks countries on happiness which is, further, based on three preceding years' data of their average life evaluations. Released on International day of Happiness, observed on March 20, the report ranks global happiness basis survey data from people in over 150 countries. Based on data from sources like the Gallup World Poll, the report once again lists many of the same Nordic countries in the top spots. As such, Denmark is at number two, followed by Iceland at number three. However, unlike previous years, where the same countries tend to appear in the top 20, there's a new entrant this year - Lithuania (at the 20th spot). The ranking uses six key factors to measure happiness - social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption. The authors of the report noted that Nordic countries merit special attention in light of their generally high levels of both personal and institutional trust. "They also had COVID-19 death rates only one-third as high as elsewhere in Western Europe during 2020 and 2021-27 per 100,000 in the Nordic countries compared to 80 in the rest of Western Europe," they said. According to the report, India ranks at 125th position out of 136 countries, making it one of the least happy countries in the world. It even lags behind its neighbouring nations like Nepal, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. At the very bottom of list is Afghanistan. Besides ranking the countries, the report also looks at the state of the world in 2023. Lara Aknin, one of the coauthors of the report said in a press release, "This year's report features many interesting insights. But one that I find particularly interesting and heartening has to do with pro-sociality. For a second year, we see that various forms of everyday kindness, such as helping a stranger, donating to charity and volunteering, are above pre-pandemic levels.” Stating that global happiness has not taken a hit in the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report added that life evaluations from 2020 to 2022 have been "remarkably resilient", with global averages in line with the years preceding the pandemic. Additionally, "Benevolence to others, especially the helping of strangers, which went up dramatically in 2021, stayed high in 2022," said John Helliwell, one of the authors of the report. Helliwell further noted that "even during these difficult years, positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones, and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness." 📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don't miss out on the latest updates!
