World Happiness Report

The World Happiness Report is a measure of happiness published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The report is edited by Professor John F. Helliwell, of the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; Lord Richard Layard, Director of the Well-Being Programme at LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance; and Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Director of the SDSN, and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General.^[1]

In July 2011, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution inviting member countries to measure the happiness of their people and to use this to help guide their public policies. On April 2, 2012 this was followed by the first UN High Level Meeting on "Happiness and Well-Being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm," which was chaired by Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan, the first and so far only country to have officially adopted gross national happiness instead of the gross domestic product as the main development indicator.^[2]
The first World Happiness Report was released on April 1, 2012, just ahead of as a foundational text for the conference. It drew international attention as the world's first global happiness survey.^[3] The Report outlined the state of world happiness, causes of happiness and misery, and policy implications; along with case studies including from Bhutan. In September 2013 the second World Happiness Report offered the first annual follow-up.^[4] The Report uses data from the Gallup World Poll. The first Report used available data from 2005-2011, and the second Report used available data from 2005-2012, focusing on the data set from 2010-2012.

In the Reports, leading experts in several fields – economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations. The second Report delved deeper into issues relating to happiness, including mental illness, the objective benefits of happiness, the importance of ethics, policy implications, and links with the OECD’s approach to measuring subjective well-being as well as the Human Development Report.

International rankings

On a scale running from 0 to 10, people in over 150 countries, surveyed by Gallup over the period 2010-12, reveal a population-weighted average score of 5.1 (out of 10). Six key variables explain three-quarters of the variation in annual national average scores over time and among countries. These six factors include: real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity.^[5]

2013 ranking (2010-12 surveys)

Rank	Country	Happiness	Change in happiness from 2012–14
1	Switzerland	7.587	-0.233
2	Iceland	7.561	0.263
3	Denmark	7.527	0.303
4	Norway	7.522	0.054
5	Brazil	7.427	0.171
6	Finland	7.406	0.032
7	Bulgaria	7.389	-0.283
8	Sweden	7.378	0.247
9	New Zealand	7.364	N/A
10	Australia	7.350	0.040
11	Israel	7.301	0.293
12	Costa Rica	7.257	0.000
13	Austria	7.221	-0.210
14	Mexico	7.144	0.410
15	Canada	7.088	0.633
16	Colombia	7.143	0.535
17	Luxembourg	7.082	-0.283
18	Ireland	7.076	-0.068
19	Belgium	7.054	N/A
20	United Arab Emirates	7.039	0.192
21	United Kingdom	6.967	-0.274
22	Oman	6.883	-0.003
23	Venezuela	6.853	N/A
24	Singapore	6.849	0.371
25	Panama	6.764	-0.049
26	Germany	6.672	0.163
27	Chile	6.666	N/A
28	Qatar	6.587	0.708
29	France	6.562	0.369
30	Argentina	6.546	-0.094
31	Czech Republic	6.519	0.687
32	Kuwait	6.515	0.440
33	Saudi Arabia	6.480	0.692
34	Cyprus	6.466	0.228
35	Netherlands	6.416	0.334
36	Thailand	6.371	0.527
37	Uruguay	6.355	0.615
38	Spain	6.322	-0.750
39	Czech Republic	6.290	-0.180
40	Suriname	6.269	N/A
41	South Korea	6.267	0.728
42	Taiwan	6.221	0.032
43	Japan	6.064	-0.303
44	Slovenia	6.060	0.249
45	Italy	6.021	-0.691
46	Slovakia	5.969	0.705
47	Guatemala	5.965	-0.148
48	Malta	5.964	N/A
49	Ecuador	5.865	0.855
50	Bolivia	5.857	0.357
51	Poland	5.822	0.085
52	Moldova	5.791	0.852
53	Paraguay	5.779	0.777
54	Peru	5.776	0.763
55	Malaysia	5.760	-0.377
56	Kazakhstan	5.671	0.074
57	Croatia	5.661	-0.160
58	Turkmenistan	5.628	N/A
59	Uzbekistan	5.623	0.390
60	Angola	5.589	1.438
61	Albania	5.550	0.915
62	Vietnam	5.533	0.173
63	Hong Kong	5.523	0.012
64	Nicaragua	5.507	0.800
65	Belarus	5.504	-0.133
66	Mauritius	5.477	N/A
67	Russia	5.464	0.346
68	North Cyprus	5.463	N/A
69	United States	5.435	-0.891
70	Lithuania	5.426	-0.456
71	Estonia	5.426	0.074
72	Algeria	5.422	N/A
73	Jordan	5.414	-0.528
74	Jamaica	5.374	-0.833
75	Indonesia	5.348	0.329
76	Turkey	5.344	0.171
77	Libya	5.340	N/A
78	Bahrain	5.312	N/A
79	India	5.306	0.442
80	Montenegro	5.299	-0.214
81	Nigeria	5.248	0.448
82	Kosovo	5.222	0.118
83	Honduras	5.142	-0.103
84	Portugal	5.101	-0.305

NOTE: This is a partial list only; the full table goes on down to Togo at #156.

See also

References

External links

• World Happiness Report
• Sustainable Development Solutions Network