TripZillaThe happiest country in the world is officially Finland, the Northern European nation with 5.5 million people. This is according to the World Happiness Report which is published annually by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Dominating the top of the charts are the Nordic countries, with Norway, Denmark and Iceland taking the next three spots. The Nordic countries, in general, scored highly on a bundle of aspects such as income, health, life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity. The report affirms that the high taxes in the region has successfully translated to a better quality of life.
These are the top 10 happiest countries in 2018:
- Finland
- Norway
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- Canada
- New Zealand
- Sweden
- Australia
At the other end of the rankings, Burundi, a landlocked country in East Africa, came at the bottom of the list among 156 countries. Some of the major problems faced by Burundi are overpopulation, land conflicts, food scarcity, poor education system and environmental issues such as deforestation, and this is all exacerbated by poor leadership and corruption.
These are the 10 least happiest countries in 2018:
- Malawi
- Haiti
- Liberia
- Syria
- Rwanda
- Yemen
- Tanzania
- South Sudan
- Central African Republic
- Burundi
Looking into Southeast Asia, Singapore ranks at 34th place, just one spot higher than Malaysia. Thailand, on the other hand, is at the 46th place; the Philippines is at the 71st place; while Vietnam and Indonesia are ranked at the 95th and 96th place respectively.
The report also zoomed into the performance of the United States. This nation, which ranked at the 11th place in the first index, has shown a decline. Last year, it was at 14th place and this year, it has slid further to the 18th place. This is attributed to a growing public health crisis involving an obesity epidemic, opioid addiction and rising depression. Even though Americans are growing wealthier, the report showed that happiness has weakened.
For the first time, the report also looked into the happiness of foreign-born immigrants in 117 countries. Interestingly, the life evaluations of immigrants would converge towards the residents in the country, no matter where the immigrants came from. In this category, Finland again takes the cake, underscoring the consistency between the happiness of the locals and the immigrants that come to the country.
