The Finns are the happiest people in the world for the fifth year in a row, report researchers who contributed to the World Happiness Report.
Denmark is second, Iceland third and Switzerland fourth, and the Netherlands completes the top five.
The researchers say the difference between Denmark and Finland was a lot bigger than in 2021. Most of the data were collected before Russia invaded Ukraine.
During the corona pandemic, the research focused more than before on the willingness to help others. People are much more likely to help strangers, volunteer or donate money than they were before the pandemic, according to the researchers. This is an increase of 25 percent. “This is strong evidence that people help others when they are in need, making the people who are helped happier and creating a better life for themselves,” the researchers say.
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It is the tenth year that the annual happiness report has been published. Over a period of three years, we will look at how citizens feel, their trust in each other and their government and the gross domestic product.
The countries at the bottom of the list, such as Afghanistan, are almost all ravaged by wars and conflicts. “We see that people in Afghanistan rate their lives as 2.4, on a scale of 1 to 10. This shows that war has a major impact on people’s well-being,” the researchers say.
The top 20 happiest countries in the world according to the World Happiness Report
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- Luxembourg
- Sweden
- Norway
- Israel
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Australia
- Ireland
- Germany
- Canada
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Czech Republic
- Belgium
- France
