Finland is Once Again the Happiest Country on Earth

For the seventh straight year running, Finland has been declared the world’s happiest country.

The announcement comes as part of the United Nation’s annual World Happiness Report and was released today to mark the International Day of Happiness.

Published every year since 2012, the report is based on data from a Gallup World Poll that’s analyzed by leading well-being scientists. Responses from people in more than 140 nations are used to develop the annual ranking of happiest countries.

And while Finland, which is also an incredibly popular travel destination, continues to be the chart topper year after year, throughout the rest of the list there’s a great deal of shuffling taking place.

The United States, for instance, (ranked 23rd this year) fell out of the top 20 happiest countries for the first time ever since the report was first published. This change is driven largely by the decline in well-being among Americans under 30 years old, the report says.

Serbia (which is 37th on this year's list) has experienced one of the biggest increases in average life evaluation scores since first being measured in 2013. The country has climbed up the rankings 69 places since then. Bulgaria has also experienced a notable upward trajectory - climbing 63 places to reach its current slot of 81.

Latvia is another example of a country that has experienced a notable increase in life evaluation and now sits in 46th place, which is 44 places higher than in 2013.

The annual rankings are based on the answers people give in the Gallup World Poll when asked to rate their own lives.
With a substantial accumulation of data since the report first began in 2012, analysts are also now able to tell that there is significant differences in happiness between age groups - an individual's country of origin aside.

“We found some pretty striking results. There is a great variety among countries in the relative happiness of the younger, older, and in-between populations. Hence the global happiness rankings are quite different for the young and the old, to an extent that has changed a lot over the last dozen years,” said John F. Helliwell, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, and a founding Editor of the World Happiness Report.

When it comes to the state of happiness among the world’s children and adolescent population, for instance, researchers found that, globally, young people aged 15 to 24 report higher life satisfaction than older adults, but that gap is narrowing in Europe and recently reversed in North America.

---

For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.

Topics From This Article to Explore