For the eighth consecutive year, Finland has been named the world’s happiest country, while Latvia has dropped down the rankings, according to the annual United Nations World Happiness Report, published on Thursday to mark International Day of Happiness.
The report, produced in partnership with the Gallup Institute, Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, analysed data from 2022 to 2024.
As in previous years, all Nordic countries remain in the top 10: Denmark is in 2nd place, Iceland in 3rd and Sweden in 4th, while Norway is in 7th place.
The Netherlands has re-entered the top five, ranking 5th. Meanwhile, Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) have entered the top 10 for the first time. Israel takes the 8th spot, and Luxembourg ranks 9th.
Countries ranked 11th to 20th include Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania, Austria, Canada, Slovenia, Czechia.
Germany improved slightly, moving from 24th to 22nd, while the United States dropped one place to 24th, marking its worst ranking to date.
Meanwhile, Latvia fell from 46th to 51st place, and Estonia dropped from 34th to 39th. However, Lithuania climbed from 19th to 16th place.
The report ranked 147 countries, with Afghanistan once again named the world’s least happy country.
Happiness was measured by subjective criteria such as people’s self-esteem and life satisfaction, as well as more objective indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, available social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom and levels of corruption.
Finland’s continued dominance in the rankings is attributed to strong social trust, high-quality public services, and a strong sense of community.
Finland named happiest country for eighth year, while Latvia drops in rankings
