Finland tops World Happiness Report 2018

NEW YORK: Finland is the World’s happiest country, according to an annual survey conducted by UN. Finland has overtaken Norway which was World’s happiest country last year. Norway ranked second followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands and So on.

Survey was conducted by U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) which ranked 156 countries and listed Burundi as least happiest country in2018 World Happiness Report. Countries are ranked on the basis of GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption.

Syria was ranked 150^th followed by Rwanda 151^st, Yemen 152^nd, Tanzania 153^rd, South Sudan 154^th, Central African Republic 155^th and Burundi on 156^th.

Finland, rose from fifth place last year to oust Norway from the top spot. The United States came in at 18th, down from 14th place last year. Britain was 19th and the United Arab Emirates 20th.

“We obviously have a social crisis in the United States: more inequality, less trust, less confidence in government. It’s pretty stark right now. The signs are not good for the U.S. It is getting richer and richer but not getting happier.” The head of the SDSN, Professor Jeffrey Sachs of New York’s Columbia University, told Reuters as the report was launched at the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

“US policymakers should take note. The US happiness ranking is falling, in part because of the ongoing epidemics of obesity, substance abuse and untreated depression,” he added.

India lags behind most of its neighbouring countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, ranking 133 in the latest World Happiness Report released by the UN whereas Pakistan ranks 75^th place, after climbing five spots since last year, Bhutan 97^th, Bangladesh 115^th , China 86^th, Nepal 101^stand Sri Lanka 116^th. In happiness rankings for immigrants, India was ranked at 91.

Happiest Immigrants in the World

Thecentral issue of the sixth World Happiness Report was the migration, released ahead of the International Day of Happiness on March 20.

The 10 happiest countries were also 10 of the top 11 spots in the rankings of immigrant happiness. Mexico placed 10^th in the immigrant happiness rankings whereas it is ranked 24^th in the overall ranking.

The foreign-born were least happy in Syria. “The most striking finding of the report is the remarkable consistency between the happiness of immigrants and the locally born,” said Professor John Helliwell of Canada’s University of British Columbia.

“Although immigrants come from countries with very different levels of happiness, their reported life evaluations converge towards those of other residents in their new countries,” he said. “Those who move to happier countries gain, while those who move to less happy countries lose.”

How it started

Bhutan, which is on 97th place on the list, brought attention to happiness as a metric for its people. Its prime minister proposed a World Happiness Day to the United Nations in 2011, which created an international focus on happiness. After one year, the UN Assembly declared March 20 as World Happiness Day.

This is the sixth issue of World Happiness Report. Countries are ranked on the basis of data from surveys in 156 countries taken from 2015-2017. The analysis of happiest immigrant in the world was based on surveys of 117 countries covering the years 2005-2015.