This year’s edition of the World Happiness Report was released on 20 March, uncoincidentally on the International Day of Happiness, and, for the sixth year in a row, Finland topped the chart.
The World Happiness Report research leverages six key factors to help explain variation in self-reported levels of happiness across the world: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption. Each report is based on data form the three preceding years from representative samples from 150 countries around the world.
This year’s edition analysed information form the three years of pandemic 2020-2022, Finland remaining in the top position. Four other Nordic countries also feature among the top 10, with Denmark and Iceland taking second and third place respectively. Lithuania is the only new country in the top twenty, up more than 30 places since 2017, while war-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon remain the two unhappiest countries in the survey.
Average happiness and our country rankings, for emotions as well as life evaluations, have been remarkably stable during the three Covid-19 years.
John Helliwell, World Happiness Report founding editor
| Rank | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|
| #1 |  Finland | 7.8 |
| #2 |  Denmark | 7.6 |
| #3 |  Iceland | 7.5 |
| #4 |  Israel | 7.5 |
| #5 |  Netherlands | 7.4 |
| #6 |  Sweden | 7.4 |
| #7 |  Norway | 7.3 |
| #8 |  Switzerland | 7.2 |
| #9 |  Luxembourg | 7.2 |
| #10 |  New Zealand | 7.1 |
“This year’s report features many interesting insights, but one that I find particularly interesting and heartening has to do with pro-sociality. For a second year, we see that various forms of everyday kindness, such as helping a stranger, donating to charity, and volunteering, are above pre-pandemic levels. Acts of kindness have been shown to both lead to and stem from greater happiness”, highlighted editor Lara Aknin.
The yearly analysis started after the UN adopted the Resolution 65/309 inviting national governments to give more importance to happiness and well-being in determining how to achieve and measure social and economic development. “The ultimate goal of politics and ethics should be human well-being”, said Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report’s founding editors. “The happiness movement shows that well-being is not a ‘soft’ and ‘vague’ idea but rather focuses on areas of life of critical importance: material conditions, mental and physical wealth, personal virtues, and good citizenship. We need to turn this wisdom into practical results to achieve more peace, prosperity, trust, civility – and yes, happiness – in our societies.”
