Happiness is a difficult metric to measure but the annual World Happiness Report has a pretty good go at looking at wellbeing around the world. Results are found by looking at a three year average of people’s quality of life.
In the latest ranking, released today, Finland topped the list for an incredible seventh year in a row. Finnish people attribute their happiness to a safe and secure environment, appreciation of nature and of course – sauna culture.
It also has the most forest of any country in Europe and it’s even known as the ‘land of a thousand lakes’. The Nordic region dominated the top 10 with Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Norway also at the top of the table.
The UK fared less well, finding itself in 20th position in the ranking behind Australia, Ireland and Canada. However, it’s a better result than another recent survey which rated the UK as the world’s second least happy country.
Afghanistan was the least happy country in the World Happiness Report with Lebanon, Lesotho, Sierra Leone and Congo also in the bottom five.
This year’s report was the first to look at happiness based on age groups which widely varied around the world.
Lithuania had the happiest children and young people under 30 while people aged 60 and older were happiest in Denmark.
In general, people born before 1965 are happier than those born after 1980 and happiness fell among millennials each year while the boomer generation tended to become happier.
Serbia and Bulgaria saw the biggest increase in happiness levels since the research first started in 2013.
The USA fell out of the top 20 for the first time since the report was first published and this was largely driven by a drop in wellbeing from US residents under the age of 30.
Want to explore the world’s happiest country? Find out which stunning road trip visits some of Finland’s prettiest spots.
