List of the World’s Happiest Countries in 2018 is out, and it shows that world’s wealthiest countries like America, Russia, and China are nowhere in top 10.
According to the United Nations’ World Happiness Report 2018, Finland is the happiest nation in the world, followed by Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
Top 10 Happiest Countries in 2018
While the fantastic ideas for happiness in 2018 at personal level might be different from those of the nations as a whole, factors are still comparable.
Nordic countries, which are also famous for providing social welfare to their citizens, continue occupying top 10 slots, with a little swapping in positions. Last year, Norway another Scandinavian country had held the highest rank on the list, but in 2018 it has moved down to the second
So, list of the top 10 happiest countries in 2018 includes
- Finland
- Norway
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- Canada
- New Zealand
- Sweden
- Australia
From other countries in the world, Germany is on 15th, the USA on 18th, UAE on 20th, France on 23rd and Saudi Arabia on 33rd position.
The United States of America which was in 14th position in previous years has moved down to 18th, due to the reasons for obesity, depression, lack of trust in government institutes and corruption.
According to the report, Pakistan’s rank has improved from 80 in 2017 to 75 in 2018. While it’s neighboring countries, India and Afghanistan lag behind by ranking on 133 and 145 respectively.
Least Happy Countries in the World
East African country Burundi is at the bottom of the list and has emerged as the least happy country according to the reports.
These are the nations that occupy last ten slots in the list of happiest countries in 2018.
- Malawi
- Haiti
- Liberia
- Syria
- Rwanda
- Yemen
- Tanzania
- South Sudan
- The Central African Republic
- Burundi
Standards for Determining Happiness
An overview of the report indicates that GDP or wealth has not much to do with determining happiness because Finland’s GDP is lower than its neighboring countries and also the USA. Perhaps, it is the increased quality of life, free health care, access to transportation, education and general social welfare that adds to the happiness of its citizens.
World’s happiest countries in 2018 list are based on the response of the citizens on factors like GDP per capita, dystopia, generosity, perception on corruption, healthy life expectancy, social support and freedom to make life choices.
The UN’s report also used the data from different polls like Gallup polls and official stats. It also surveyed the respondents from these 156 countries. For this time, the report also evaluated the happiness of immigrants, and the results were somehow similar. Finland occupied the top slot in the category of world’s happiest countries in 2018, immigrants wise, too.
