Finland was once again adjudged as the world’s happiest country, extending its lead over Denmark and Switzerland, according to a United Nations-affiliated research network. For the third year in a row, Finland has been named the world’s happiest country. Finland came top by some margin, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.
Since the first report in 2012, only four countries have claimed the top spot: Denmark in 2012, 2013 and 2016, Switzerland in 2015, Norway in 2017, and now Finland in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
India: India has been ranked at 144th place in the World Happiness Report 2020. India is a new entrant to the bottom-ten group. The report says that “India’s large and steady decline in life evaluation scores since 2015 means that its annual score in 2019 is now 1.2 points lower than in 2015.”
Afghanistan ranked lowest among 153 countries, with South Sudan and Zimbabwe just above it.
Theme: This year’s theme is environments for happiness, with special attention to the social environment, happiness in cities and rural areas, and the natural environment, including links between happiness and sustainable development.
About the report
The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
This is the eighth World Happiness Report. The first seven reports were produced by the founding trio of co-editors assembled in Thimphu in July 2011 pursuant to the Bhutanese Resolution passed by the UN General Assembly in June 2011, that invited national governments to “give more importance to happiness and well-being in determining how to achieve and measure social and economic development.”
