Finland remained the world’s happiest nation for a seventh straight 12 months in an annual UN sponsored World Happiness Report printed on Wednesday.
And Nordic international locations stored their locations among the many 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland.
Afghanistan, suffering from a humanitarian disaster for the reason that Taliban regained management in 2020, stayed on the backside of the 143 international locations surveyed.
For the primary time for the reason that report was printed greater than a decade in the past, the US and Germany weren’t among the many 20 happiest nations, coming in twenty third and twenty fourth, respectively.
In flip, Costa Rica and Kuwait entered the highest 20 at 12 and 13.
The report famous that the happiest international locations not included any of the world’s largest international locations.
“Within the high 10 international locations, solely the Netherlands and Australia have populations over 15 million. In the entire of the highest 20, solely Canada and the UK have populations over 30 million.”
The sharpest decline in happiness since 2006–10 was famous in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Jordan, whereas the Japanese European international locations of Serbia, Bulgaria and Latvia reported the most important will increase.
The happiness rating relies on people’ self-assessed evaluations of life satisfaction, in addition to GDP per capita, social assist, wholesome life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.
– Rising inequality –
Jennifer De Paola, a happiness researcher on the College of Helsinki in Finland, advised AFP that Finns’ shut connection to nature and wholesome work-life stability had been key contributors to their life satisfaction.
As well as, Finns could have a “extra attainable understanding of what a profitable life is”, in comparison with for instance, the US, the place success is commonly equated with monetary acquire, she mentioned.
Finns’ robust welfare society, belief in state authorities, low ranges of corruption and free healthcare and schooling had been additionally key.
“Finnish society is permeated by a way of belief, freedom, and excessive stage of autonomy,” De Paola mentioned.
This 12 months’s report additionally discovered that youthful generations had been happier than their older friends in a lot of the world’s areas — however not all.
In North America, Australia and New Zealand, happiness amongst teams beneath 30 has dropped dramatically since 2006-10, with older generations now happier than the younger.
Against this, in Central and Japanese Europe, happiness elevated considerably in any respect ages throughout the identical interval, whereas in Western Europe, individuals of all ages reported comparable ranges of happiness.
Happiness inequality elevated in each area besides Europe, which the authors described as a “worrying pattern.”
The rise was particularly distinct among the many outdated and in Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting inequalities in “earnings, schooling, well being care, social acceptance, belief, and the presence of supportive social environments on the household, group and nationwide ranges,” the authors mentioned.
