Finland still the happiest country in the world

Finland was named on Friday the happiest country in the world for the fifth year in a row, in a ranking where Lebanon and Afghanistan close the march and where Belgium is ranked 19th, just ahead of France.

 

With a score of 7.82 out of 10, the Nordic country of 5.5 million inhabitants is ahead of Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, in a top ranking that remains unchanged and is dominated by European and Northern European countries in particular.

 

The three biggest gains were in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. The strongest declines were in Lebanon, Venezuela and Afghanistan, according to the World Happiness Report, an annual study sponsored by the United Nations launched a decade ago. Lebanon, shaken by unrest and a serious economic crisis, falls to the penultimate place, with 2.95 points, behind Zimbabwe and just ahead of Afghanistan, which was last again this year with a score of 2.40.

 

The study, published since 2012, primarily uses Gallup polls asking residents about their own level of happiness, cross-referenced with GDP and assessments regarding the level of solidarity, individual freedom and corruption, to arrive at an overall score.

 

Germany and Canada drop one place to 14th and 15th respectively, just ahead of the United States (16th, +3), according to the official ranking of about 150 countries, which weights data from the past three years. Belgium is 19th with a score of 6.80 (-2), ahead of France, 20th, (6.68), its best ranking since the study began, while the United Kingdom is 17th (unchanged).

 

Among the other major powers, Brazil is in 38th position (-3), Japan 54th (+2), while Russia falls to 80th (-4) in this edition completed before the invasion of Ukraine. China jumps 12 places to 72nd position, India remains at the bottom of the ranking (136th) but gains 3 places.