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What are the Happiest Countries in the World?



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World map depicting happiness score of the countries

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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