The World Happiness Report 2024 is out, and once again Nordic countries have grabbed the highest scores. The No. 1 country, Finland, has held onto its top ranking for seven years straight, according to the annual UN World Happiness Report released on March 20, 2024.
Finland’s Nordic neighbors also earned reliably high scores with Denmark (No. 2), Iceland (No. 3), Sweden (No. 4), Israel (No. 5), The Netherlands (No. 6), Norway (No. 7), Luxembourg (No. 8), Switzerland (No. 9) and Australia (No. 10) in top 10.
Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2021, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed. It ranks after Congo, Sierra Leone, Lesotho and Lebanon.
The United States fell in ranking from 16th spot from last time to the 23rd spot this time. This year, Canada took the 15th spot while the UK was at the 20, Germany at 24 and France at 27. Conversely, Costa Rica and Kuwait have entered the top 20, claiming the 12th and 13th spots. Among Middle Eastern nations, the UAE was ranked at 22 and Saudi Arabia at 28. Among Asian nations, Singapore was at 30, Japan at 50 and South Korea at 51.
Where Does India Rank?
India ranked 126th while its neighbors China ranked 60th, Nepal at 93, Pakistan at 108, Myanmar at 118, Sri Lanka at 128 and Bangladesh at 129th spots.
The report observed that in India, older age is associated with higher life satisfaction. However, older Indian women reported lower life satisfaction than older men, it added. Education and caste played key roles, with older adults with secondary or higher education and those of higher social castes reporting higher life satisfaction than their counterparts without formal education and those from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, it said.
Worldwide, women were less happy than men in every region, with the gender gap widening as they aged, according to the report.
Separate Rankings by Age Group for The First Time
This year’s report is the first to include separate rankings by age group. While ranking happiness in young people (aged 30 and below), Lithuania, Israel, Serbia, Iceland and Denmark ranked in the top five slots, with Finland being delegated to the seventh rank. India ranked at 127th spot in this.
However, when it came to ranking happiness in old people (aged 60 and above), Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland — all Nordic nations — ranked the highest, with India occupying the 121st spot. Countries ranking highest for the old are generally countries with high overall rankings, but include several where the young have recently fared very poorly, the report observed.
The report says that in all regions the frequency of positive emotions has changed since 2006-2010 in the same direction as life evaluations. But the age patterns differ. The frequency of positive emotions in every region is highest for those under 30, thereafter steadily declining with age in every region except North America, where positive emotions are least frequent for those in the middle age groups.
Negative emotions are more frequent now than in 2006-2010 everywhere except in East Asia and in Europe. In fact, in Central and Eastern Europe, negative emotions are now less frequent in all age groups than they were in 2006-2010. In 2021-2023 negative emotions were in every region more prevalent for females than males. Almost everywhere the gender gap is larger at older ages.
The World Happiness Report is published annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and takes into account six variables — GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. The report draws on global survey data from people in more than 140 countries. Countries are ranked on happiness based on their average life evaluations over the three preceding years, in this case 2021 to 2023. It is supported by taking the average life evaluation data gathered by the Gallup polls.
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