2024 World Happiness Report

Finland is the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row

NepalPress

March 21, 2024

For the seventh year in a row, Finland has landed the top spot on the World Happiness Report’s annual ranking of the happiest countries in the world, CNBC reported.

Countries are ranked according to self-assessed life evaluations and answers to the Cantril ladder question which asks respondents to think of a ladder with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst being a 0 and then rate their current lives on that scale.

The Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, which publishes the report, says that in addition to using the Cantril ladder question, the report also considers the following six variables in the more than 130 countries ranked in the report:

GDP per capita
Social Support
Healthy life expectancy
Freedom
Generosity
Freedom of corruption

While this year the top ten countries on the list remain mostly unchanged, the top 20 saw a bit more action. Costa Rica and Kuwait jumped to 12th and 13th place, respectively while the United States and Germany fell off the top 20 completely. The U.S. dropped from No. 15 to No. 23 this year.

Of the top ten happiest countries, only the Netherlands and Australia have populations over 15 million, and of the top 20, only Canada and the U.K. have populations over 30 million, CNBC reported.