Finland tops World Happiness Report

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NEW DELHI: Finland has topped once again as the happiest country for the seventh consecutive year, according to the annual World Happiness Report 2024.

Nordic countries continue to dominate the top rankings, with Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden following closely behind Finland. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has been deemed as the least happy country- ranked at the bottom of the list of 143 countries surveyed, after Congo, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, and Lebanon.

Among the Asian nations, Singapore ranked 30th, Japan at 50th, South Korea at 51st, and China at 60th. India, Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh ranked 126th, 93rd, 108th, 118th, 128th, and 129th positions respectively.

The report observed that in India, older age is associated with higher life satisfaction. However, older Indian women reported lower life satisfaction than older men. Education and caste played key roles, with older adults with secondary or higher education and those of higher social castes reporting higher life satisfaction than their counterparts without formal education and those from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The report also stated that women, worldwide were less happy than men in every region, with the gender gap widening as they aged.

The report further ranked happiness in young people (aged 30 and below), where Lithuania, Israel, Serbia, Iceland, and Denmark ranked in the top five slots, with Finland being delegated to the seventh rank. India ranked at 127th spot in this.

However, when it came to ranking happiness in old people (aged 60 and above), Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland — all Nordic nations — ranked the highest, with India occupying the 121st spot. “Countries ranking highest for the old are generally countries with high overall rankings, but include several where the young have recently fared very poorly,” the report highlighted.

The World Happiness Report is published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and takes into account six variables- GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. It is supported by taking the average life evaluation data gathered by the Gallup polls for the 2021-23 period.

Top 10 Happiness rankings (Global)

Finland

Denmark

Iceland

Sweden

Israel

Netherlands

Norway

Luxembourg

Switzerland

Australia

Top 10 Happiness rankings (Asia)