The World Happiness Report is back for its 2024 edition and there have been some changes in the top 10, even if the top spot hasn’t changed now in six editions.
General happiness is, of course, a tricky metric to accurately measure. The World Happiness Report, though, does so by assigning a score to each nation polled using data gathered on life evaluation.
Those polled are asked to fill out a Cantril ladder survey, giving scores of their lives on a scale of zero to 10 (zero being worst and 10 being best). Around 1,000 survey responses are used for each country. To collect a country’s individual score, known as the Average Life Evaluation, the Happiness Report takes an average of the numbers given by those surveyed in each nation across the last three years.
Of the nations polled, Afghanistan once again has been dubbed the unhappiest country in the world, with a score of 1.721. The UK, meanwhile, ranks as the 20th happiest country with a score of 6.749 and the US is 23rd with a score of 6.725. But which countries are the happiest overall? Well, here are the top 10 in reverse order:
10. Australia: It's the tenth-happiest country in the world in 2024 according to the World Happiness Report, with a score of 7.057. In 2023, this position was held by New Zealand, which has dropped down a place to 11th.
9. Switzerland: With a score of 7.060. In 2022, the country was ranked fourth.
8. Luxembourg: The eighth-happiest country in the world with a World Happiness Report score of 7.122. The small European nation was ranked as high as sixth in 2022.
7. Norway: With a score of 7.302, Norway is the first of the Scandinavian nations to be mentioned in this list - all of them are here.
6. Netherlands: With a score of 7.319.
5. Israel: With a score of 7.344. Given the war with Hamas, Israel may come as a surprise at No. 5, although the country has been in the top 10 since 2022. The report’s authors point out that its rankings are based on a three-year average, which often mutes the effect of “cataclysmic events happening during a particular year.”
4. Sweden: Its World Happiness Report score is 7.395.
3. Iceland: With a score of 7.525, this is the second year in a row that Iceland has been given third place.
2. Denmark: Scoring 7.583, this is the fifth year in a row that Denmark has been dubbed the second-happiest country in the world.
Top Spot: Finland. This is the seventh year in a row that Finland has been named the happiest country on Earth, achieving an overall score of 7.741.