The Happiest Country in the World Is . . . Not the U.S.
You probably wouldn’t believe this with all the chaos that has happened in America over the past few years . . . but we’re pretty happy in our lives, relatively speaking. That said, things are starting to wear on us.
Every year since 2012, Gallup has put out a “World Happiness Report,” which ranks how people in more than 140 countries evaluate the quality of their lives.
And for the SEVENTH year in a row, Finland is #1.
Denmark is #2 . . . Iceland is #3 . . . and the rest of the Top 10 is: Sweden . . . Israel . . . the Netherlands . . . Norway . . . Luxembourg . . . Switzerland . . . and New Zealand. (So the FIVE major Nordic countries are ALL in the Top 7.)
Israel seems strange here, considering the brutal war with Hamas . . . but there are TWO explanations.
The study is based on surveys from the previous THREE YEARS, and for the previous two, Israel has ranked even higher.
Last year’s survey in Israel was mostly conducted after the Hamas attack in October, but before much of the ensuing warfare. So Israel’s “happiness” level did fall sharply, but not enough to pull its three-year average out of the Top 10.
The U.S. is #23 out of 143 countries, which isn’t terrible, relatively-speaking . . . but it’s our lowest rank since they’ve been doing this 12 years ago.
We’re just below Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates . . . and just ahead of Germany and Mexico. Higher than America on the list: Kuwait is #13, Canada is #15, and the U.K. is #20.
When broken down by age, the happiness level is MUCH higher among older folks in America. Among people under 30, the U.S. sank to #62, while for those 60 and older, it’s #10 in happiness level. (It’s still a Boomers world.)
Overall, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Lesotho are the countries where people are LEAST satisfied and happy with their lives. They finished just below Sierra Leone, Congo, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Eswatini, and Zambia.
(Here’s the chart with this year’s ranking.)
