ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: For the sixth consecutive year, Finland has maintained its top position as the happiest nation in the world.
Surprisingly, Israel made it to the 4th position this year as compared to 9 last year superseding several Northern European countries that were on top until last year.
According to World Happiness Report rankings, mainly based on statistical analysis and life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll, Finland has made it to the top as the happiest country in the world for the sixth consecutive year.
After Finland, Denmark is ranked as the second happiest country, followed by Iceland (3), Israel (4) and The Netherlands (5), Sweden (6), Norway (7), Switzerland (8), Luxembourg (9) and New Zealand (10). However, no Islamic country, including Pakistan, made it to the top 20 happiest countries list.
To determine the world’s happiest country, researchers considered the GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, low corruption, social support, freedom to make key life decisions, and generosity in a community where people look after each other.
In an interview with CNN, John Helliwell, one of the writers of the World Happiness Report, said that generosity to others, particularly the aiding of strangers, which had increased significantly in 2021, remained strong in 2022, entering the year 2023.
And in the three years since the Covid-19 outbreak, happiness levels worldwide have not decreased. According to the report, life ratings from 2020 to 2022 have been “remarkably resilient,” with global averages matching the three years before the pandemic.
In a news release, Helliwell noted that happy emotions have stayed twice as prevalent as negative ones, and sentiments of positive social support have remained twice as strong as feelings of loneliness.
The report, a product of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, is based on data from an international survey conducted in more than 150 nations. Based on their average life ratings for the three years prior, from 2020 to 2022, countries were rated according to their happiness.
The report identifies the happiest countries, those at the bottom of the happiness scale and everything in between, and the factors that lead to greater happiness.
Austria clinched the 11th position, followed by Australia (12), Canada (13), Ireland (14), the US (15), Germany (16), Belgium (17), the Czech Republic (18), United Kingdom (19) and Lithuania (20).
In this year’s report, France dropped out of the top 20 to 21, while Afghanistan ranked at 137 as being the least happy country, followed by Lebanon (136).
In this year’s list of happy nations, Russia and Ukraine are ranked 70 and 92, respectively.
