Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the seventh consecutive year, according to the World Happiness Report, published on Wednesday.
The Nordic countries ranked high again, with Denmark (2nd), Iceland (3rd) and Sweden (4th) making the top five — followed by Norway in seventh place.
Afghanistan, which has been plagued by human rights issues since the Taliban took control of the country, was again at the bottom of the ranking (143rd).
Finnish President Alexander Stubb took to the social media website X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his reasons for Finland's success in the ranking — nature, trust and education.
World Happiness Report 2024 rankings
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Luxembourg
- Switzerland
- Australia
The report's annual release coincides with the International Day of Happiness on March 20.
The All Points North podcast covered Finland's success in the happiness rankings last year. Listen in this embedded player, on Yle Areena, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.
The rankings of other Western countries were negatively affected due to responses from young people. For the first time in the history of the report, the United States (23rd) and Germany (24th) did not make the top 20.
"Young people, especially in North America, are now experiencing a mid-life crisis," said Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, professor of economics at Oxford University and one of the authors of the report.
According to De Neve, young people's dissatisfaction was fuelled by increased confrontation, the negative aspects of social media and economic inequality.
The World Happiness Report has been published since 2012. It is based on surveys that ask respondents to rate their current life on a scale between 0 to 10, with a score of 10 for the best possible life and 0 for the worst. The ranking is based on the average of responses over the past three years.
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