Chakar The Great
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The happiest countries in the world 2020 have been ranked in the latest World Happiness Report. For the third year running, Finland holds on to top spot
Happiness is a nebulous thing; hard to grasp and harder to hold onto. Scientists, economists and philosophers have defined it through the ages as a combination of different things, among them health, wealth, companionship and security.
Various indices attempt to rank the happiest countries in the world on an annual basis. The World Happiness Report from the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is particularly interesting as it ranks 153 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
The SDSN employs an international group of economists, neuroscientists and statisticians to survey citizens on their subjective wellbeing to produce a comprehensive annual list of the happiest countries in the world.
HOW TO EVALUATE HAPPINESS
SDSN highlights that its rankings are not an index like the longer running Human Development Index (HDI) and more recent Happy Planet Index (HPI). These are often influenced by sponsors and draw only partly on self-assessment – or make no use of it at all.
SDSN stresses that its findings draw heavily on data from population samples in each country, using a life evaluation survey to produce subjective wellbeing data.
The report principally relies on asking a straightforward, subjective question of more than 1,000 people in each country:
Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top.
The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?
That is not to say the report is without a scientific basis. Economic and social influences are considered along with the survey (namely GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption), but the focus is on how happy citizens say they are; not how happy statisticians think they should be.
TOP 10 HAPPIEST COUNTRIES
Finland takes the top spot once again as the happiest country in the world. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 are countries that have consistently ranked among the happiest. The only top-10 newcomer was Luxembourg.
For the first time in its history, the report also ranked individual cities by residents’ perception of their own well-being. Unsurprisingly, Finland’s capital Helsinki was in first place.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF HAPPINESS
Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between unhappiness and the poorestand most dangerous countries. Nine of the top 10 happiest countries are European nations with only New Zealand from outside Europe.
HAPPIEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD 2020 – COMPLETE RANKINGS
Rank Country Score
1 Finland -7.809
2 Denmark -7.646
3 Switzerland -7.560
4 Iceland -7.504
5 Norway -7.488
6 Netherlands -7.449
7 Sweden -7.353
8 New Zealand -7.300
9 Austria -7.294
10 Luxembourg -7.238
11 Canada -7.232
12 Australia -7.223
13 UK -7.165
14 Israel -7.129
15 Costa Rica -7.121
16 Ireland -7.094
17 Germany -7.076
18 USA -6.940
19 Czech Rep. -6.911
20 Belgium -6.864
21 UAE -6.791
22 Malta -6.773
23 France -6.664
24 Mexico -6.465
25 Taiwan -6.455
26 Uruguay -6.440
27 Saudi Arabia -6.406
28 Spain -6.401
29 Guatemala -6.399
30 Italy -6.387
31 Singapore -6.377
32 Brazil -6.376
33 Slovenia -6.363
34 El Salvador -6.348
35 Kosovo -6.325
36 Panama -6.305
37 Slovakia -6.281
38 Uzbekistan -6.258
39 Chile -6.228
40 Bahrain -6.227
41 Lithuania -6.215
42 Trinidad & Tobago -6.192
43 Poland -6.186
44 Colombia -6.163
45 Cyprus -6.159
46 Nicaragua -6.137
47 Romania -6.124
48 Kuwait -6.102
49 Mauritius -6.101
50 Kazakhstan -6.058
51 Estonia -6.022
52 Philippines -6.006
53 Hungary -6.000
54 Thailand -5.999
55 Argentina -5.975
56 Honduras -5.953
57 Latvia -5.950
58 Ecuador -5.925
59 Portugal -5.911
60 Jamaica -5.890
61 South Korea -5.872
62 Japan -5.871
63 Peru -5.797
64 Serbia -5.778
65 Bolivia -5.747
66 Pakistan -5.693
67 Paraguay -5.692
68 Dominican Rep. -5.689
69 Bosnia & Herz. -5.674
70 Moldova -5.608
71 Tajikistan -5.556
72 Montenegro -5.546
73 Russia -5.546
74 Kyrgyzstan -5.542
75 Belarus -5.540
76 Northern Cyprus -5.536
77 Greece -5.515
78 Hong Kong -5.510
79 Croatia -5.505
80 Libya -5.489
81 Mongolia -5.456
82 Malaysia -5.384
83 Vietnam -5.353
84 Indonesia -5.286
85 Ivory Coast -5.233
86 Benin -5.216
87 Maldives -5.198
88 Congo -5.194
89 Azerbaijan -5.165
90 Macedonia -5.160
91 Ghana -5.148
92 Nepal -5.137
93 Turkey -5.132
94 China -5.124
95 Turkmenistan -5.119
96 Bulgaria -5.102
97 Morocco -5.095
98 Cameroon -5.085
99 Venezuela -5.053
100 Algeria -5.005
101 Senegal -4.981
102 Guinea -4.949
103 Niger -4.910
104 Laos -4.889
105 Albania -4.883
106 Cambodia -4.848
107 Bangladesh -4.833
108 Gabon -4.829
109 South Africa -4.814
110 Iraq -4.785
111 Lebanon -4.772
112 Burkina Faso -4.769
113 Gambia -4.751
114 Mali -4.729
115 Nigeria -4.724
116 Armenia -4.677
117 Georgia -4.673
118 Iran -4.672
119 Jordan -4.633
120 Mozambique -4.624
121 Kenya -4.583
122 Namibia -4.571
123 Ukraine -4.561
124 Liberia -4.558
125 Palestinian Territories -4.553
126 Uganda -4.432
127 Chad -4.423
128 Tunisia -4.392
129 Mauritania -4.375
130 Sri Lanka -4.327
131 Congo (DRC) -4.311
132 Swaziland -4.308
133 Myanmar -4.308
134 Comoros -4.289
135 Togo -4.187
136 Ethiopia -4.186
137 Madagascar -4.166
138 Egypt -4.151
139 Sierra Leone -3.926
140 Burundi -3.775
141 Zambia -3.759
142 Haiti -3.721
143 Lesotho -3.653
144 India -3.573
145 Malawi -3.538
146 Yemen -3.527
147 Botswana -3.479
148 Tanzania -3.476
149 Central African Rep. -3.476
150 Rwanda -3.312
151 Zimbabwe -3.299
152 South Sudan -2.817
153 Afghanistan -2.567
Source: https://www.atlasandboots.com/happi...Tec3yH_r9YrBo0Rfw2xBOuqBEePpKldxCEqCwtKpKAdS8
Happiness is a nebulous thing; hard to grasp and harder to hold onto. Scientists, economists and philosophers have defined it through the ages as a combination of different things, among them health, wealth, companionship and security.
Various indices attempt to rank the happiest countries in the world on an annual basis. The World Happiness Report from the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is particularly interesting as it ranks 153 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
The SDSN employs an international group of economists, neuroscientists and statisticians to survey citizens on their subjective wellbeing to produce a comprehensive annual list of the happiest countries in the world.
HOW TO EVALUATE HAPPINESS
SDSN highlights that its rankings are not an index like the longer running Human Development Index (HDI) and more recent Happy Planet Index (HPI). These are often influenced by sponsors and draw only partly on self-assessment – or make no use of it at all.
SDSN stresses that its findings draw heavily on data from population samples in each country, using a life evaluation survey to produce subjective wellbeing data.
The report principally relies on asking a straightforward, subjective question of more than 1,000 people in each country:
Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top.
The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?
That is not to say the report is without a scientific basis. Economic and social influences are considered along with the survey (namely GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption), but the focus is on how happy citizens say they are; not how happy statisticians think they should be.
TOP 10 HAPPIEST COUNTRIES
Finland takes the top spot once again as the happiest country in the world. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 are countries that have consistently ranked among the happiest. The only top-10 newcomer was Luxembourg.
- Finland
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- Iceland
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Luxembourg
For the first time in its history, the report also ranked individual cities by residents’ perception of their own well-being. Unsurprisingly, Finland’s capital Helsinki was in first place.
- Helsinki, Finland
- Aarhus, Denmark
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Bergen, Norway
- Oslo, Norway
- Tel Aviv, Israel
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Brisbane, Australia
THE GEOGRAPHY OF HAPPINESS
Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between unhappiness and the poorestand most dangerous countries. Nine of the top 10 happiest countries are European nations with only New Zealand from outside Europe.
HAPPIEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD 2020 – COMPLETE RANKINGS
Rank Country Score
1 Finland -7.809
2 Denmark -7.646
3 Switzerland -7.560
4 Iceland -7.504
5 Norway -7.488
6 Netherlands -7.449
7 Sweden -7.353
8 New Zealand -7.300
9 Austria -7.294
10 Luxembourg -7.238
11 Canada -7.232
12 Australia -7.223
13 UK -7.165
14 Israel -7.129
15 Costa Rica -7.121
16 Ireland -7.094
17 Germany -7.076
18 USA -6.940
19 Czech Rep. -6.911
20 Belgium -6.864
21 UAE -6.791
22 Malta -6.773
23 France -6.664
24 Mexico -6.465
25 Taiwan -6.455
26 Uruguay -6.440
27 Saudi Arabia -6.406
28 Spain -6.401
29 Guatemala -6.399
30 Italy -6.387
31 Singapore -6.377
32 Brazil -6.376
33 Slovenia -6.363
34 El Salvador -6.348
35 Kosovo -6.325
36 Panama -6.305
37 Slovakia -6.281
38 Uzbekistan -6.258
39 Chile -6.228
40 Bahrain -6.227
41 Lithuania -6.215
42 Trinidad & Tobago -6.192
43 Poland -6.186
44 Colombia -6.163
45 Cyprus -6.159
46 Nicaragua -6.137
47 Romania -6.124
48 Kuwait -6.102
49 Mauritius -6.101
50 Kazakhstan -6.058
51 Estonia -6.022
52 Philippines -6.006
53 Hungary -6.000
54 Thailand -5.999
55 Argentina -5.975
56 Honduras -5.953
57 Latvia -5.950
58 Ecuador -5.925
59 Portugal -5.911
60 Jamaica -5.890
61 South Korea -5.872
62 Japan -5.871
63 Peru -5.797
64 Serbia -5.778
65 Bolivia -5.747
66 Pakistan -5.693
67 Paraguay -5.692
68 Dominican Rep. -5.689
69 Bosnia & Herz. -5.674
70 Moldova -5.608
71 Tajikistan -5.556
72 Montenegro -5.546
73 Russia -5.546
74 Kyrgyzstan -5.542
75 Belarus -5.540
76 Northern Cyprus -5.536
77 Greece -5.515
78 Hong Kong -5.510
79 Croatia -5.505
80 Libya -5.489
81 Mongolia -5.456
82 Malaysia -5.384
83 Vietnam -5.353
84 Indonesia -5.286
85 Ivory Coast -5.233
86 Benin -5.216
87 Maldives -5.198
88 Congo -5.194
89 Azerbaijan -5.165
90 Macedonia -5.160
91 Ghana -5.148
92 Nepal -5.137
93 Turkey -5.132
94 China -5.124
95 Turkmenistan -5.119
96 Bulgaria -5.102
97 Morocco -5.095
98 Cameroon -5.085
99 Venezuela -5.053
100 Algeria -5.005
101 Senegal -4.981
102 Guinea -4.949
103 Niger -4.910
104 Laos -4.889
105 Albania -4.883
106 Cambodia -4.848
107 Bangladesh -4.833
108 Gabon -4.829
109 South Africa -4.814
110 Iraq -4.785
111 Lebanon -4.772
112 Burkina Faso -4.769
113 Gambia -4.751
114 Mali -4.729
115 Nigeria -4.724
116 Armenia -4.677
117 Georgia -4.673
118 Iran -4.672
119 Jordan -4.633
120 Mozambique -4.624
121 Kenya -4.583
122 Namibia -4.571
123 Ukraine -4.561
124 Liberia -4.558
125 Palestinian Territories -4.553
126 Uganda -4.432
127 Chad -4.423
128 Tunisia -4.392
129 Mauritania -4.375
130 Sri Lanka -4.327
131 Congo (DRC) -4.311
132 Swaziland -4.308
133 Myanmar -4.308
134 Comoros -4.289
135 Togo -4.187
136 Ethiopia -4.186
137 Madagascar -4.166
138 Egypt -4.151
139 Sierra Leone -3.926
140 Burundi -3.775
141 Zambia -3.759
142 Haiti -3.721
143 Lesotho -3.653
144 India -3.573
145 Malawi -3.538
146 Yemen -3.527
147 Botswana -3.479
148 Tanzania -3.476
149 Central African Rep. -3.476
150 Rwanda -3.312
151 Zimbabwe -3.299
152 South Sudan -2.817
153 Afghanistan -2.567
Source: https://www.atlasandboots.com/happi...Tec3yH_r9YrBo0Rfw2xBOuqBEePpKldxCEqCwtKpKAdS8
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