• For the fifth year in a row Finland takes the top spot as the happiest in the world on the index of 146 countries, according to World Happiness Report 2022. 

• This year Finland’s score was significantly ahead of other countries in the top ten. Finland got a score of 7.82 out of 10.

• Denmark continues to occupy second place, with Iceland up from fourth place last year to third this year. Switzerland is fourth, followed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

• India saw a marginal improvement in its ranking, jumping three spots to 136, from 139 a year ago.

• The latest list was completed before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The top 10 countries are:

1) Finland

2) Denmark

3) Iceland

4) Switzerland

5) Netherlands

6) Luxembourg

7) Sweden

8) Norway

9) Israel

10) New Zealand.

• Afghanistan, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana are at the bottom of the index.

• War-scarred Afghanistan, already bottom of the table last year, saw its humanitarian crisis deepen since the Taliban returned to power last August following the pull-out of US-led troops.

• Lebanon, which is facing an economic meltdown, fell to second from last on the index of 146 countries, just below Zimbabwe.

• The ten countries with the largest gains from 2008-2012 to 2019-2021 were, in order, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Togo, Bahrain, Latvia, Benin, Guinea and Armenia. 

• The ten countries with the largest drops from 2008-2012 to 2019-2021 were Lebanon, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Zambia, India, Mexico and Botswana.

World Happiness Report

• A decade ago, governments around the world expressed the desire to put happiness at the heart of the global development agenda, and they adopted a UN General Assembly resolution for that purpose. The World Happiness Report grew out of that worldwide determination to find the path to greater global well-being.

• The World Happiness Report is a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, powered by data from the Gallup World Poll. 

• This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Happiness Report, which uses global survey data to report on how people evaluate their own lives in more than 150 countries around the world. 

• It is based on people’s own assessment of their happiness, as well as economic and social data.

• This year’s report comes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended lives around the world.

The key factors based on which the index is prepared are:

• GDP per capita

• Social support

• Healthy life expectancy

• Freedom to make life choices

• Generosity

• Freedom from corruption

• Positive affect

• Negative affect.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store