Finland wins happiest country title fourth year in a row!3 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutesHarsh winters and bland food were once synonymous with Finland, but over the past few years, the country has been recognised for something else, something extremely positive. Happiness! An annual ‘happiness’ ranking for countries has put Finland on top for the fourth time. This has helped the country’s reputation globally, and has also helped in terms of tourism. Wouldn’t you want to go there and see what makes the country so happy?
The 10 happiest countries are:
- Finland
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- Iceland
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Sweden
- Luxembourg
- New Zealand
The World Happiness Report – which is sponsored by the United Nations – saw Denmark in second place, followed by Switzerland, Iceland and then the Netherlands. New Zealand was the only non-European country to make it to then top 10.
The country deemed the most unhappy in the world was Afghanistan, followed by Lesotho, Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Owliver’s Obscure Facts:
Can you guess how India ranked in this report? Well, unfortunately, it’s pretty low. The country has been ranked 139 out of 149 countries in the list! Why do you think this is so? Comment and us know!
How was the rating done?
People from 149 countries were made to rate their own happiness. Several factors were taken into consideration, and the measures people were asked to rate included social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product or GDP, levels of corruption, and more.
The authors of the report said that in just over a third of the countries, there was a “significantly higher frequency of negative emotions”, which they attribute to the coronavirus pandemic.
How much did the pandemic impact happiness?
Despite the effect of the pandemic on people across the globe, life did seem to improve for people living in 22 of the countries rated in the report. Many Asian countries fared better than they had in last year’s rankings too.
“Surprisingly there was not, on average, a decline in well-being when measured by people’s own evaluation of their lives,” John Helliwell, one of the report’s authors, said in a statement.
Credit: aa.com.tr
“One possible explanation is that people see Covid-19 as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and fellow-feeling.”
Finland “ranked very high on the measures of mutual trust that have helped to protect lives and livelihoods during the pandemic”, the authors said.
Sources: Firstpost, BBC
