For the sixth year running, Finland is ranked as the happiest nation in the world, a record in a list that has been available for more than ten years.
Finland ranks “significantly ahead of all other countries” in the World Happiness Report, which the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network released on Monday. Finland is followed in the rankings by Denmark in second place and Iceland in third.
“Income, health, having someone to count on, having a sense of freedom to make key life decisions, generosity, and the absence of corruption all play strong roles in supporting life evaluations,” the report said.
Happiness Scoreboard
Nordic countries dominate the top of the happiness ranking
Ranking using data form 2020-2022. All locations are not surveyed every year.
Israel climbed up five steps from last year to take the fourth place, followed by the Netherlands. The US was in the 15th spot in the ranking that showed a large gap remaining between the top and bottom countries. Lebanon and Afghanistan came last, while Lithuania was among the biggest gainers, climbing up more than 30 places since 2017 to rank number 20 now.
In general, life evaluations have continued to be “remarkably resilient” with global averages during the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 to 2022 as high as those in the preceding three years, the report said.
Nordic countries dominate the top of the ranking