The happiest countries in the world 2020 have been ranked in the latest World Happiness Report. For the third year running, Finland holds on to top spot

Happiness is a nebulous thing; hard to grasp and harder to hold onto. Scientists, economists and philosophers have defined it through the ages as a combination of different things, among them health, wealth, companionship and security.



Various indices attempt to rank the happiest countries in the world on an annual basis. The World Happiness Report from the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is particularly interesting as it ranks 153 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.

The SDSN employs an international group of economists, neuroscientists and statisticians to survey citizens on their subjective wellbeing to produce a comprehensive annual list of the happiest countries in the world.

How to evaluate happiness

SDSN highlights that its rankings are not an index like the longer running Human Development Index (HDI) and more recent Happy Planet Index (HPI). These are often influenced by sponsors and draw only partly on self-assessment – or make no use of it at all.

SDSN stresses that its findings draw heavily on data from population samples in each country, using a life evaluation survey to produce subjective wellbeing data.

The report principally relies on asking a straightforward, subjective question of more than 1,000 people in each country:

Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?

That is not to say the report is without a scientific basis. Economic and social influences are considered along with the survey (namely GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption), but the focus is on how happy citizens say they are; not how happy statisticians think they should be.

Top 10 happiest countries

Finland takes the top spot once again as the happiest country in the world. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 are countries that have consistently ranked among the happiest. The only top-10 newcomer was Luxembourg.

Finland Denmark Switzerland Iceland Norway Netherlands Sweden New Zealand Austria Luxembourg

Top 10 happiest cities

For the first time in its history, the report also ranked individual cities by residents’ perception of their own well-being. Unsurprisingly, Finland’s capital Helsinki was in first place.

Helsinki, Finland Aarhus, Denmark Wellington, New Zealand Zurich, Switzerland Copenhagen, Denmark Bergen, Norway Oslo, Norway Tel Aviv, Israel Stockholm, Sweden Brisbane, Australia

► View the complete city rankings here.

The geography of happiness

Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between unhappiness and the poorest and most dangerous countries. Nine of the top 10 happiest countries are European nations with only New Zealand from outside Europe.

The report also demonstrates that, generally, the happiness ranking of cities is very similar – almost identical in fact – to that of the countries in which they are located.

Scandinavia is home to some of happiest countries in the world

The UK is ranked 13th, gaining three spots from 16th last year, while the US is ranked 18th, up one spot from last year.

Troubled Afghanistan is ranked the least happy country in the world. The rest of the bottom five comprise South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and the Central African Republic.

Happiest countries in the world 2020 – complete rankings

Rank Country Score 1 Finland -7.809 2 Denmark -7.646 3 Switzerland -7.560 4 Iceland -7.504 5 Norway -7.488 6 Netherlands -7.449 7 Sweden -7.353 8 New Zealand -7.300 9 Austria -7.294 10 Luxembourg -7.238 11 Canada -7.232 12 Australia -7.223 13 UK -7.165 14 Israel -7.129 15 Costa Rica -7.121 16 Ireland -7.094 17 Germany -7.076 18 USA -6.940 19 Czech Rep. -6.911 20 Belgium -6.864 21 UAE -6.791 22 Malta -6.773 23 France -6.664 24 Mexico -6.465 25 Taiwan -6.455 26 Uruguay -6.440 27 Saudi Arabia -6.406 28 Spain -6.401 29 Guatemala -6.399 30 Italy -6.387 31 Singapore -6.377 32 Brazil -6.376 33 Slovenia -6.363 34 El Salvador -6.348 35 Kosovo -6.325 36 Panama -6.305 37 Slovakia -6.281 38 Uzbekistan -6.258 39 Chile -6.228 40 Bahrain -6.227 41 Lithuania -6.215 42 Trinidad & Tobago -6.192 43 Poland -6.186 44 Colombia -6.163 45 Cyprus -6.159 46 Nicaragua -6.137 47 Romania -6.124 48 Kuwait -6.102 49 Mauritius -6.101 50 Kazakhstan -6.058 51 Estonia -6.022 52 Philippines -6.006 53 Hungary -6.000 54 Thailand -5.999 55 Argentina -5.975 56 Honduras -5.953 57 Latvia -5.950 58 Ecuador -5.925 59 Portugal -5.911 60 Jamaica -5.890 61 South Korea -5.872 62 Japan -5.871 63 Peru -5.797 64 Serbia -5.778 65 Bolivia -5.747 66 Pakistan -5.693 67 Paraguay -5.692 68 Dominican Rep. -5.689 69 Bosnia & Herz. -5.674 70 Moldova -5.608 71 Tajikistan -5.556 72 Montenegro -5.546 73 Russia -5.546 74 Kyrgyzstan -5.542 75 Belarus -5.540 76 Northern Cyprus -5.536 77 Greece -5.515 78 Hong Kong -5.510 79 Croatia -5.505 80 Libya -5.489 81 Mongolia -5.456 82 Malaysia -5.384 83 Vietnam -5.353 84 Indonesia -5.286 85 Ivory Coast -5.233 86 Benin -5.216 87 Maldives -5.198 88 Congo -5.194 89 Azerbaijan -5.165 90 Macedonia -5.160 91 Ghana -5.148 92 Nepal -5.137 93 Turkey -5.132 94 China -5.124 95 Turkmenistan -5.119 96 Bulgaria -5.102 97 Morocco -5.095 98 Cameroon -5.085 99 Venezuela -5.053 100 Algeria -5.005 101 Senegal -4.981 102 Guinea -4.949 103 Niger -4.910 104 Laos -4.889 105 Albania -4.883 106 Cambodia -4.848 107 Bangladesh -4.833 108 Gabon -4.829 109 South Africa -4.814 110 Iraq -4.785 111 Lebanon -4.772 112 Burkina Faso -4.769 113 Gambia -4.751 114 Mali -4.729 115 Nigeria -4.724 116 Armenia -4.677 117 Georgia -4.673 118 Iran -4.672 119 Jordan -4.633 120 Mozambique -4.624 121 Kenya -4.583 122 Namibia -4.571 123 Ukraine -4.561 124 Liberia -4.558 125 Palestinian Territories -4.553 126 Uganda -4.432 127 Chad -4.423 128 Tunisia -4.392 129 Mauritania -4.375 130 Sri Lanka -4.327 131 Congo (DRC) -4.311 132 Swaziland -4.308 133 Myanmar -4.308 134 Comoros -4.289 135 Togo -4.187 136 Ethiopia -4.186 137 Madagascar -4.166 138 Egypt -4.151 139 Sierra Leone -3.926 140 Burundi -3.775 141 Zambia -3.759 142 Haiti -3.721 143 Lesotho -3.653 144 India -3.573 145 Malawi -3.538 146 Yemen -3.527 147 Botswana -3.479 148 Tanzania -3.476 149 Central African Rep. -3.476 150 Rwanda -3.312 151 Zimbabwe -3.299 152 South Sudan -2.817 153 Afghanistan -2.567

Download the complete World Happiness Report here.

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