Finland ranks happiest country in the world for 4th yr in a row; Afghanistan most unhappy

In an annual UN-sponsored report, Finland has been named the happiest place in the world for the fourth year in a row. The World Happiest Report saw Denmark in second place, followed by Switzerland, Iceland and the Netherlands. New Zealand was the only non-European nation in the top 10. The UK, on the other hand, fell from 13th to 17th place. 

The United States shot up to number 14 - up four spots from last year when it ranked 18 - even beating out Canada, who slipped to number 15 this year. According to the report, data from analytics researcher Gallup asked people in 149 countries to measure  their own happiness. Measures including social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product (GDP) and levels of corruption were also factored in. 

Most unhappy country 

The country deemed the most unhappy in the world included Afghanistan, followed by Lesotho, Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The report authors said that there was a “significantly higher frequency of negative emotions” in just over a third of the countries. However, they added that things got better for 22 countries. It is worth noting that several Asian countries fared better than they had in last year’s rankings' China moved to 84th place from 94th. 

According to BBC, John Helliwell, one of the report’s authors, said that people see coronavirus as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity. Further, Helliwell added that Finland ranked very high on the measures of mutual trust that has helped to protect lives and livelihoods during the pandemic. 

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