Happiest Countries in The World 2017
To commemorate World Happiness Day 2017, the United Nations has released the World Happiness Report 2017 in the hopes of tracking which pocket of the world does well-being the best by ranking 155 countries by their happiness levels.
More than just the state of the mind, happiness is considered to be in line with a proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy, as well as public health and economic prosperity.
According to the released report, the 10 most happiest countries of 2016 are still the same in 2017, although there has been some shuffling of places.
It indicated that the four top happiest countries in the world are Norway, which is followed closely by Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland.
You would think that The United States should be among the top countries, but it is not. In fact, United states it is at the 14th spot. The study captured that the United States offers a vivid portrait of a country that is looking for happiness “in all the wrong places.” The irony of the country is that even as it is becoming economically better, its happiness level is falling.
In comparison to other parts of the world, African countries are seen to be lagging behind in the report. This has been attributed to disappointment with different aspects of development under democracy.
Covering the period between 2014 and 2016, the report shows that Algeria is the most happiest country in Africa, followed by Mauritius, Libya, Morrocco, and Somalia. Nigeria is the sixth most happiest country in Africa followed by South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, and Sierra Leone.
In the global stage, however, Nigeria is the 95th happiest country. Algeria is at 53, Mauritius is 64, Lybia is 68, and Morocco is 84, while Somalia is two spots above Nigeria at 93. Other African countries are over 100.
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It notes that although there is much optimism in Nigeria, the country’s spirit of optimism may be exceptional by world standards, but not in Africa.
Of the 10 least happiest countries in the world, 8 are African countries. These countries are South Sudan, Liberia, Guinea, Togo, Rwanda, Syria, Burundi, and the Central African Republic, which is the least happiest.
Most of the countries at the bottom are war-torn sub-Saharan countries who are economically challenged.
Countries that have shown the biggest improvements in happiness levels over the past year are Nicaragua, Latvia, Sierra Leone, Ecuador, Moldova, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovakia, Chile, and Uzbekistan.
Yes, happiness is both a personal and a social thing. Nevertheless, the research made the report looking at six important variables: GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity, and absence/perception of corruption.
