Finland is the happiest country in the world for the second year in a row, according to the latest World Happiness Report.
It’s followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands.
The report is produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. It ranks countries on six key variables that support wellbeing: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity.
“The top 10 countries tend to rank high in all six variables, as well as emotional measures of well-being,” says report co-editor John Helliwell, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia.
And that’s not just about the native-born residents of those countries.
“It’s true that last year all Finns were happier than rest of the countries’ residents, but their immigrants were also happiest immigrants in the world,” says Helliwell.
“It’s not about Finnish DNA. It’s the way life is lived in those countries.”
They pay high taxes for a social safety net, they trust their government, they live in freedom and they are generous with each other.
