Marcy MinianoThe World Happiness Report 2023 was released last Monday in celebration of the International Day of Happiness. For those not familiar, the report is an annual publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The report identifies the happiest countries in the world for 2023, the least happy, and the factors that affect each nation’s happiness.
It draws on global survey data from people in more than 150 countries — all of which are ranked on happiness based on their average life evaluations. These evaluations, mainly from the Gallup World Poll, cover the past three years; in this case, 2020 to 2022.
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Top 20 happiest countries in the world for 2023
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Coming in at number one for the sixth year in a row is Finland. Same as the previous year, Denmark and Iceland place second and third, respectively. These Nordic countries all scored highly in the report’s criteria: healthy life expectancy; GDP per capita; social support; low corruption; generosity in a community where people look after each other; and freedom to make key life decisions.
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Luxembourg
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Australia
- Canada
- Ireland
- United States
- Germany
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- United Kingdom
- Lithuania
What can we take away from this?
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According to the World Happiness Report 2023, life evaluations from 2020 to 2022 have been “remarkably resilient” despite the pandemic. Moreover, benevolence went up 25% from pre-pandemic times.
“Benevolence to others, especially the helping of strangers, which went up dramatically in 2021, stayed high in 2022,” said John Helliwell, one of the authors of the report, in a CNN interview.
Helliwell also added that, “Even during these difficult years, positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones, and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness.”
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The World Happiness Report has long been advocating for making national happiness a key priority of every government to ensure a nation’s growth and success. This year’s report is the 10th one since the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/281 back in 28 Jun 2012.
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Oh, and did we mention that some of these happiest countries in the world are also easy to immigrate to? Click here to find out more. Alternatively, if you’re thinking of living in these happiest countries only temporarily, some also offer digital nomad visas that are worth considering!
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