The world’s happiest country has been revealed but it’s not good news for the UK which falls to its lowest spot since 2017.
Finland takes the top spot once again for the eighth successive year in a row in the latest World Happiness Report.
Nordic countries dominate the top of the list with Denmark in second, Iceland in third and Sweden in fourth.
The UK lands in 23rd position while the USA falls to its lowest ever position in 24th place. Both countries land behind Israel (8th) despite the ongoing conflict in the region.
Afghanistan is once against the unhappiest happiest country in the world with Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi and Zimbabwe rounding off the bottom five.
The report, published by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the WHR’s Editorial Board, asks people around the globe to rate their lives to find the world’s happiest country.
Rankings are then based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life.
The report finds that sharing meals with other people is strongly linked to wellbeing across all global regions. In the USA, the number of people dining alone has increased by 53 per cent over the past two decades.
Finland takes the top spot once again for the eighth successive year in a row in the latest World Happiness Report
The report finds that sharing meals with other people is strongly linked to wellbeing across all global regions
Household size also has a big impact on happiness, with the happiest households those that had four or five people living together. In Europe, many people are living on their own, which could impact happiness levels.
The number of young adults who say they have no one they can count on for social support has also increased by 39 per cent since 2006.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, professor of economics at the University of Oxford, and an editor of the World Happiness Report, says: ‘This year’s report pushes us to look beyond traditional determinants like health and wealth.
‘It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are even stronger predictors of wellbeing than expected.
‘In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again — doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing.’
Believing that other people will ‘return your lost wallet is a strong predictor of local happiness’, according to the report’s results.
The Nordic countries rank among the top places for expected and actual return of wallets, which goes some way to explaining their position at the top of the table.
But the report finds that the majority of people around the globe are ‘much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality’ as ‘actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect’.
The Nordic countries rank among the top places for expected and actual return of wallets, which goes some way to explaining their position at the top of the table. Pictured above is Finland
Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup, says: ‘Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back.
‘This year’s report proves we underestimate how kind the world really is. If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.’
Serbia (31st) , Bulgaria (85th) and Georgia (91st) have seen the biggest rises in happiness since the first ever World Happiness Report in 2012.
Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) also both enter the top 10 for the first time.
