Finland has once again secured its position as the world’s happiest country for the seventh consecutive year, as per the latest edition of the annual World Happiness Report released on Wednesday, March 20.
In addition to Finland, its Nordic counterparts Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland have also maintained their positions within the top 10 rankings.
However, a noticeable trend of rising discontent, particularly among young demographics, has led to the decline of several Western nations in the index. Both the United States and Germany, for instance, have slipped out of the top 20 for the first time since the report’s inception over a decade ago. The United States now holds the 23rd position, with Germany following closely at 24th.
Conversely, Costa Rica and Kuwait have entered the top 20, securing the 12th and 13th spots respectively. Moreover, countries in Eastern Europe such as Serbia, Bulgaria, and Latvia have witnessed significant increases in happiness levels.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Afghanistan, grappling with a humanitarian crisis since the Taliban regained control in 2020, remains at the bottom of the list.
The survey, conducted across 143 countries and territories, assesses participants’ quality of life on a scale from zero to 10, factoring in elements such as GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption.
Coinciding with the International Day of Happiness on March 20, the report highlights a noteworthy shift: the absence of any of the world’s largest countries among the happiest nations.
According to the report, “In the top 10 countries, only the Netherlands and Australia have populations over 15 million. In the whole of the top 20, only Canada and the UK have populations over 30 million.”
Contrary to previous studies indicating a U-shaped curve of happiness over the lifespan, with peaks in childhood and later in retirement, the report reveals a concerning trend. In several countries, today’s younger generations are more prone to reporting feelings of loneliness compared to older age groups.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, a professor of economics at the University of Oxford and one of the report’s editors, attributes this increasing discontent among Western youth to various factors, including the adverse effects of social media, heightened polarization on social issues, and economic disparities hindering young people from achieving homeownership—a milestone previously more accessible to them.
