Norway has jumped from 4th place in 2016 to 1st place this year, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland, according to World Happiness Report 2017.
All of the top four countries rank highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance.
Their averages are so close that small changes can re-order the rankings from year to year. Norway moves to the top of the ranking despite weaker oil prices.
All of the other countries in the top ten also have high values in all six of the key variables used to explain happiness differences among countries and through time – income, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on in times of trouble, generosity, freedom and trust, with the latter measured by the absence of corruption in business and government.
Here too there has been some shuffling of ranks among closely grouped countries, with this year’s rankings placing Finland in 5thplace, followed by the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia and Sweden tied for the 9th position, having the same 2014-2016 score to three decimals.
India ranked at 122 out of 155 countries in the World Happiness Report 2017, four notches below its previous rank of 118. The report was released at the United Nations at an event celebrating International Day of Happiness on 20 March, 2017.
Germany was ranked 16, followed by the United Kingdom (19) and France (31). The United States dropped one spot to 14.
South Sudan, Liberia, Guinea, Togo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Central African Republic were at the bottom.
The first World Happiness Report was published in April, 2012, in support of the UN High Level Meeting on happiness and well-being.
Rank of Countires according to Happiness:
1. Norway (7.537)
2. Denmark (7.522)
3. Iceland (7.504)
4. Switzerland (7.494)
5. Finland (7.469)
6. Netherlands (7.377)
7. Canada (7.316)
8. New Zealand (7.314)
9. Australia (7.284)
10. Sweden (7.284)
11. Israel (7.213)
12. Costa Rica (7.079)
13. Austria (7.006)
14. United States (6.993)
15. Ireland (6.977)
16. Germany (6.951)
17. Belgium (6.891)
18. Luxembourg (6.863)
19. United Kingdom (6.714)
20. Chile (6.652)
21. United Arab Emirates (6.648)
22. Brazil (6.635)
23. Czech Republic (6.609)
24. Argentina (6.599)
25. Mexico (6.578)
26. Singapore (6.572)
27. Malta (6.527)
28. Uruguay (6.454)
29. Guatemala (6.454)
30. Panama (6.452)
31. France (6.442)
32. Thailand (6.424)
33. Taiwan (6.422)
34. Spain (6.403)
35. Qatar (6.375)
36. Colombia (6.357)
37. Saudi Arabia (6.344)
38. Trinidad and Tobago (6.168)
39. Kuwait (6.105)
40. Slovakia (6.098)
41. Bahrain (6.087)
42. Malaysia (6.084)
43. Nicaragua (6.071)
44. Ecuador (6.008)
45. El Salvador (6.003)
46. Poland (5.973)
47. Uzbekistan (5.971)
48. Italy (5.964)
49. Russia (5.963)
50. Belize (5.956)
51. Japan (5.920)
52. Lithuania (5.902)
53. Algeria (5.872)
54. Latvia (5.850)
55. Moldova (5.838)
56. South Korea (5.838)
57. Romania (5.825)
58. Bolivia (5.823)
59. Turkmenistan (5.822)
60. Kazakhstan (5.819)
61. North Cyprus (5.810)
62. Slovenia (5.758)
63. Peru (5.715)
64. Mauritius (5.629)
65. Cyprus (5.621)
66. Estonia (5.611)
67. Belarus (5.569)
68. Libya (5.525)
69. Turkey (5.500)
70. Paraguay (5.493)
71. Hong Kong (5.472)
72. Philippines (5.430)
73. Serbia (5.395)
74. Jordan (5.336)
75. Hungary (5.324)
76. Jamaica (5.311)
77. Croatia (5.293)
78. Kosovo (5.279)
79. China (5.273)
80. Pakistan (5.269)
81. Indonesia (5.262)
82. Venezuela (5.250)
83. Montenegro (5.237)
84. Morocco (5.235)
85. Azerbaijan (5.234)
86. Dominican Republic (5.230)
87. Greece (5.227)
88. Lebanon (5.225)
89. Portugal (5.195)
90. Bosnia and Herzegovina (5.182)
91. Honduras (5.181)
92. Macedonia (5.175)
93. Somalia (5.151)
94. Vietnam (5.074)
95. Nigeria (5.074)
96. Tajikistan (5.041)
97. Bhutan (5.011)
98. Kyrgyzstan (5.004)
99. Nepal (4.962)
100. Mongolia (4.955)
101. South Africa (4.829)
102. Tunisia (4.805)
103. Palestinian Territories (4.775)
104. Egypt (4.735)
105. Bulgaria (4.714)
106. Sierra Leone (4.709)
107. Cameroon (4.695)
108. Iran (4.692)
109.Albania (4.644)
110. Bangladesh (4.608)
111. Namibia (4.574)
112. Kenya (4.553)
113. Mozambique (4.550)
114. Myanmar (4.545)
115. Senegal (4.535)
116. Zambia (4.514)
117. Iraq (4.497)
118. Gabon (4.465)
119. Ethiopia (4.460)
120. Sri Lanka (4.440)
121. Armenia (4.376)
122. India (4.315)
123. Mauritania (4.292)
124. Congo (Brazzaville) (4.291)
125. Georgia (4.286)
126. Congo (Kinshasa) (4.280)
127. Mali (4.190)
128. Ivory Coast (4.180)
129. Cambodia (4.168)
130. Sudan (4.139)
131. Ghana (4.120)
132. Ukraine (4.096)
133. Uganda (4.081)
134. Burkina Faso (4.032)
135. Niger (4.028)
136. Malawi (3.970)
137. Chad (3.936)
138. Zimbabwe (3.875)
139. Lesotho (3.808)
140. Angola (3.795)
141. Afghanistan (3.794)
142. Botswana (3.766)
143. Benin (3.657)
144. Madagascar (3.644)
145. Haiti (3.603)
146. Yemen (3.593)
147. South Sudan (3.591)
148. Liberia (3.533)
149. Guinea (3.507)
150. Togo (3.495)
151. Rwanda (3.471)
152. Syria (3.462)
153. Tanzania (3.349)
154. Burundi (2.905)
155. Central African Republic (2.693)
