Finland tops UN's World Happiness Report as happiest country

Utkarsh Classes Last Updated 20-03-2024

Finland tops UN's World Happiness Report as happiest country

Report 6 min read

In the United Nations sponsored annual ‘World Happiness Report’ released on 20 March 2024, ‘Finland’ has been considered the happiest country in the world. Finland has become the happiest country in the world for the seventh consecutive year in this United Nations report.

Nordic countries included in the World Happiness Report:

In this report, Nordic countries maintained their position among the 10 happiest countries. It also includes Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.

India's rank in the World Happiness Report:

India ranks 126th among 143 countries in the World Happiness Report. India was at the same rank last year also.

Afghanistan at the bottom:

In the World Happiness Report, Afghanistan has been placed at the lowest position in the list of 143 countries.
Afghanistan has been plagued by humanitarian disaster since it came under Taliban control in 2020. This is also being seen in the World Happiness Report of the United Nations.

America and Germany not included in 20 happiest countries:

This is the first time in this annual report that the USA and Germany have not been included in the list of the 20 happiest countries.
In the new survey, America came in 23rd place and Germany in 24th place. Whereas, Costa Rica has been included in the top 20 countries at 12th place and Kuwait at 13th place.

No big country is included in top 10 happy countries in report:

The report says that none of the world's largest countries are now included among the happiest countries.
Only the Netherlands and Australia, among the top 10 happiest countries, have populations exceeding 15 million. At the same time, among the top 20 countries, only Canada and the UK have a population of more than 30 million.

Sharp decline in world happiness after 2010:

Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Jordan experienced the most significant drops in happiness since 2006-2010. Whereas Eastern European countries Serbia, Bulgaria and Latvia have recorded the highest increase in happiness.
In North America, Australia and New Zealand, well-being among under-30 age groups has declined since 2006–10. The older generation here is now happier than the youth.
Conversely, happiness surged notably across all age groups in Central and Eastern Europe during that timeframe.
Whereas people of all ages in Western Europe reported similar levels of happiness.
Happiness inequality has increased in every region except Europe, which the report called a "worrying trend".

Basis of World Happiness Ranking:

Many core values have been included in the preparation of this report of the United Nations. These mainly include the following:
- GDP per capita along with self-assessment of life satisfaction of individuals
- Social Support
- Healthy Life Expectancy
- Freedom
- Kindness
- Corruption.

Highlights of the World Happiness Report:

The latest report is the inaugural one to feature distinct rankings based on age categories.
It also highlights the poor situation regarding life satisfaction among young people in some parts of the world.
The report is based on global survey data of people from 143 countries.
The report ranks countries in happiness based on their average life assessment over the past three years.

Decrease in happiness among the youth of North America:

Happiness among youth in North America has declined precipitously. The youth there are now less happy than the old people.
In this report, for the first time since 2012, America has been left out of the top 20 in the list of happy countries. The decline in the rank of some countries including America also happened because many countries of Europe have made a big jump in it.