It’s barely news anymore that citizens in Scandinavian countries are among the happiest in the world. For several years Denmark has held first place, and the slogan ‘The happiest country in the world’ was used when greeting foreigners in Kastrup Airport for several years.
And in the recently published Happiness Report 2018, made by the UN Global Happiness Council (GHC), yet another Scandinavian country ranks as number one, and this time it’s Finland, followed by Denmark and Norway.
The index is based on polls made by Gallup Worldwide from 2015-2017.
And surprisingly you have to look very far on the list before a Southeast Asian country shows itself. Singapore is ranked as the 34th happiest country, just below Saudi Arabia, and the next SE Asian country is Thailand on the 46th spot.
The index found several parameters explaining how a country’s happiness is placed. Thing such as freedom to make choices, generosity and social support are among the parameters, but the index also shows that if there is a large amount of corruption in a country, it tends to rank lower.
And when it comes to Finland, things such as social support at GDP per capita is what drags the country to the very top, whereas when it comes to Laos, ranking at a low 110th, the perceptions of corruption are very large, contributing to a general unhappiness.
The index can be further studied here.
