The happiest country in the world has been named

Evaluation Methods

Identifying the happiest among the 143 countries participating in the study is not an easy task. Especially since everyone's criteria for happiness are individual, we need some understandable and equally applicable parameters.

And there is such a parameter. In fact, there are 7 of them: 

• Perception of corruption;
• Charity;
• Freedom of Life Choice;
• Healthy life expectancy;
• Social support;
• GDP per capita;
• Other variables.

It is important to understand that the calculations are not based on generalized numbers, but on the opinions and assessments of people living in these countries. It is also important to keep in mind that the data in the study is calculated for 3 years: from 2021 to 2023. For this reason, the impact of some global and regional shocks will affect the final result, but everything is rather smoothly distributed over the entire time scale.

Happiness by Age

Before we move on to countries, let's look at another global trend. There is now enough statistical data to highlight it against the background of various influencing factors and to back it up with observations.

Scientists have concluded that generations born before 1965 (boomers and their predecessors) are getting happier every year. Those born after 1980 (Millennials, Generation Z, and Alphas), on the other hand, are becoming increasingly unhappy as they age.

Of course, there are a few more generations in between, but their state of mind has very little impact on the overall balance of power. It's also worth noting that during the pandemic, the level of positive emotions dropped dramatically across all age cohorts, but now their numbers are trending upward again.

Major reshuffling in the top countries

The top ten countries remained largely unchanged this year, but there were some very significant shifts in the top 20. Major countries such as the USA and Germany have fallen out of favor, moving from 15th and 16th to 23rd and 24th respectively.

There were big jumps for Costa Rica and Kuwait, who entered the top 20 for the first time but immediately moved up to 12th and 13th respectively. Slovenia was ranked 21st.

In general, the happiness gap between Western and Eastern Europe is narrowing. And smaller countries are often happier. Judge for yourself: in the top ten, only Australia and the Netherlands have a population of more than 15 million, and Luxembourg has about 600 thousand. Canada and the United Kingdom stand out in the top 20 because of their size: they have more than 30 million people.

TOP 10

Now we come to the most interesting part, and yes, there was a little spoiler at the beginning of this article. Finland has won again. But the other countries are also interesting, because the gap between them is minimal.

1. Finland, Score: 7,741
2. Denmark, Score: 7.583
3. Iceland, Score: 7.525
4. Sweden, Score: 7.344
5. Israel, Score: 7,341
6. Netherlands, Score: 7.319
7. Norway, Score: 7.302
8. Luxembourg, Score: 7,122
9. Switzerland, Score: 7,060
10. Australia, Score: 7,057

The 11th place went to New Zealand with 7,029 points, after that the countries went down by 6 points and less. In general, there are a lot of permutations in the list, which is normal given the ongoing tensions in the world.

It is noteworthy that the Balkans have become happier: Romania and Serbia ranked 32nd and 37th respectively, moving up 63 and 69 places this year. The unhappiest country, as expected, was Afghanistan. It continues to break anti-records even after the Taliban came to power in 2021.