What are the Happiest Countries in the World?
Happiness does not always rely on the attitude of a person. The surroundings and quality of life offered by a country have an impact on the state of mind of human beings. The World Happiness Report is released by the United Nations annually to estimate the general well-being of people worldwide.
United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network unveils 2020, report of the World Happiness Countries. It publishes articles and rankings of national happiness based on public opinions of their own lives. Gallup World Poll, which provides unique life evaluation surveys, is one of the most important, sources for this report. The report is launched on International Day of Happiness, March 20th. The World Happiness report also correlates with numerous life factors. As of March 2020, Finland was again declared as the happiest country globally third-time in a row.
Finland, with a happiness score of 7.809, stands at the No.1 rank, owing to the high environmental standards and less crime and terrorism. Free or low-cost education and healthcare add much-needed charms for people living in the country. In the 2019 report also, Finland left others behind in the happiness index. The next four top positions in the World Happiness report 2020 went to Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway, with scores of 7.646, 7.560, 7.504, and 7.488 respectively.
Numerous factors have been considered while measuring the happiness of a country. Wealth is not the only determining factor, and the world’s wealthiest nations are not necessarily the happiest. Despite having a good economy, countries such as the USA and Japan do not even rank amid the top ten countries in the Index. The wide disparity has led policymakers to estimate the health and happiness of people in a nation, via different indicators and not just GDP growth rate.
Social measures, livability, and culture prevailing in a country are some of the crucial factors to understand the well-being of citizens. In the United States of America, inequality is on the rise, life expectancy has declined, and health problems are severe. The country has the largest population of obese adults and has the highest rate of usage of antidepressants. Economists are concerned about the future of the nation, and there is a strong need for better policies that benefit people.
On the other hand, several African and Asian nations rank at the bottom of the happiness index. Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Afghanistan are the lowest ranking nations, with happiness scores of 3.299, 2.817, and 2.567, respectively. The reasons behind it being high corruption, increased poverty, and low life expectancy rate. Whereas India, an emerging economy and the second most populated country in the world, has a very low score of 3.573. It slid from 140th position in the previous years’ report to the 144th position in the 2020 report.
Here is a table with the ranking of countries, along with their happiness scores in the World Happiness Report 2020:
| Rank | Country | Happiness Score (2017-2019) |
| 1 | Finland | 7.809 |
| 2 | Denmark | 7.646 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 7.56 |
| 4 | Iceland | 7.504 |
| 5 | Norway | 7.488 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 7.449 |
| 7 | Sweden | 7.353 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 7.3 |
| 9 | Austria | 7.294 |
| 10 | Luxembourg | 7.238 |
| 11 | Canada | 7.232 |
| 12 | Australia | 7.223 |
| 13 | United Kingdom | 7.165 |
| 14 | Israel | 7.129 |
| 15 | Costa Rica | 7.121 |
| 16 | Ireland | 7.094 |
| 17 | Germany | 7.076 |
| 18 | United States | 6.94 |
| 19 | Czechia | 6.911 |
| 20 | Belgium | 6.864 |
| 21 | United Arab Emirates | 6.791 |
| 22 | Malta | 6.773 |
| 23 | France | 6.664 |
| 24 | Mexico | 6.465 |
| 25 | Taiwan | 6.455 |
| 26 | Uruguay | 6.44 |
| 27 | Saudi Arabia | 6.406 |
| 28 | Spain | 6.401 |
| 29 | Guatemala | 6.399 |
| 30 | Italy | 6.387 |
| 31 | Singapore | 6.377 |
| 32 | Brazil | 6.376 |
| 33 | Slovenia | 6.363 |
| 34 | El Salvador | 6.348 |
| 35 | Kosovo | 6.325 |
| 36 | Panama | 6.305 |
| 37 | Slovakia | 6.281 |
| 38 | Uzbekistan | 6.258 |
| 39 | Chile | 6.228 |
| 40 | Bahrain | 6.227 |
| 41 | Lithuania | 6.215 |
| 42 | Trinidad and Tobago | 6.192 |
| 43 | Poland | 6.186 |
| 44 | Colombia | 6.163 |
| 45 | Cyprus | 6.159 |
| 46 | Nicaragua | 6.137 |
| 47 | Romania | 6.124 |
| 48 | Kuwait | 6.102 |
| 49 | Mauritius | 6.101 |
| 50 | Kazakhstan | 6.058 |
| 51 | Estonia | 6.022 |
| 52 | Philippines | 6.006 |
| 53 | Hungary | 6 |
| 54 | Thailand | 5.999 |
| 55 | Argentina | 5.975 |
| 56 | Honduras | 5.953 |
| 57 | Latvia | 5.95 |
| 58 | Ecuador | 5.925 |
| 59 | Portugal | 5.911 |
| 60 | Jamaica | 5.89 |
| 61 | South Korea | 5.872 |
| 62 | Japan | 5.871 |
| 63 | Peru | 5.797 |
| 64 | Serbia | 5.778 |
| 65 | Bolivia | 5.747 |
| 66 | Pakistan | 5.693 |
| 67 | Paraguay | 5.692 |
| 68 | Dominican Republic | 5.689 |
| 69 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 5.674 |
| 70 | Moldova | 5.608 |
| 71 | Tajikistan | 5.556 |
| 72 | Montenegro | 5.546 |
| 73 | Russia | 5.546 |
| 74 | Kyrgyzstan | 5.542 |
| 75 | Belarus | 5.54 |
| 76 | North Cyprus | 5.536 |
| 77 | Greece | 5.515 |
| 78 | Hong Kong S.A.R. of China | 5.51 |
| 79 | Croatia | 5.505 |
| 80 | Libya | 5.489 |
| 81 | Mongolia | 5.456 |
| 82 | Malaysia | 5.384 |
| 83 | Vietnam | 5.353 |
| 84 | Indonesia | 5.286 |
| 85 | Côte d’Ivoire | 5.233 |
| 86 | Benin | 5.216 |
| 87 | Maldives | 5.198 |
| 88 | Republic of the Congo | 5.194 |
| 89 | Azerbaijan | 5.165 |
| 90 | North Macedonia | 5.16 |
| 91 | Ghana | 5.148 |
| 92 | Nepal | 5.137 |
| 93 | Turkey | 5.132 |
| 94 | China | 5.124 |
| 95 | Turkmenistan | 5.119 |
| 96 | Bulgaria | 5.102 |
| 97 | Morocco | 5.095 |
| 98 | Cameroon | 5.085 |
| 99 | Venezuela | 5.053 |
| 100 | Algeria | 5.005 |
| 101 | Senegal | 4.981 |
| 102 | Guinea | 4.949 |
| 103 | Niger | 4.91 |
| 104 | Laos | 4.889 |
| 105 | Albania | 4.883 |
| 106 | Cambodia | 4.848 |
| 107 | Bangladesh | 4.833 |
| 108 | Gabon | 4.829 |
| 109 | South Africa | 4.814 |
| 110 | Iraq | 4.785 |
| 111 | Lebanon | 4.772 |
| 112 | Burkina Faso | 4.769 |
| 113 | Gambia | 4.751 |
| 114 | Mali | 4.729 |
| 115 | Nigeria | 4.724 |
| 116 | Armenia | 4.677 |
| 117 | Georgia | 4.673 |
| 118 | Iran | 4.672 |
| 119 | Jordan | 4.633 |
| 120 | Mozambique | 4.624 |
| 121 | Kenya | 4.583 |
| 122 | Namibia | 4.571 |
| 123 | Ukraine | 4.561 |
| 124 | Liberia | 4.558 |
| 125 | Palestinian Territories | 4.553 |
| 126 | Uganda | 4.432 |
| 127 | Chad | 4.423 |
| 128 | Tunisia | 4.392 |
| 129 | Mauritania | 4.375 |
| 130 | Sri Lanka | 4.327 |
| 131 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 4.311 |
| 132 | Eswatini | 4.308 |
| 133 | Myanmar | 4.308 |
| 134 | Comoros | 4.289 |
| 135 | Togo | 4.187 |
| 136 | Ethiopia | 4.186 |
| 137 | Madagascar | 4.166 |
| 138 | Egypt | 4.151 |
| 139 | Sierra Leone | 3.926 |
| 140 | Burundi | 3.775 |
| 141 | Zambia | 3.759 |
| 142 | Haiti | 3.721 |
| 143 | Lesotho | 3.653 |
| 144 | India | 3.573 |
| 145 | Malawi | 3.538 |
| 146 | Yemen | 3.527 |
| 147 | Botswana | 3.479 |
| 148 | Tanzania | 3.476 |
| 149 | Central African Republic | 3.476 |
| 150 | Rwanda | 3.312 |
| 151 | Zimbabwe | 3.299 |
| 152 | South Sudan | 2.817 |
| 153 | Afghanistan | 2.567 |
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