PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is ranked the 80th happiest nation in the 2019 World Happiness Report, a massive drop of 45 places compared with 2018 when it was ranked 35th.

This latest report of 156 countries covers the period from 2016-2018, while the 2018 report covered 2015-2017.

In South-East Asia, Malaysia is ranked fourth behind Singapore (34th), Thailand (52nd) and the Philippines (69th).

In the previous report, Malaysia was ranked second happiest in the region.

The top spots for happiest countries in the world go to the Nordic nations, with Finland being the happiest followed by Denmark, Norway and Iceland.

The unhappiest country is South Sudan, with Tanzania, Afghanistan and Central African Republic just above them.

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.

This year’s report focused on happiness and the community: how happiness has evolved over the past dozen years, with a focus on the technologies, social norms, conflicts and government policies that have driven those changes.

The report is produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, in partnership with the Ernesto Illy Foundation.

The overall rankings are based on the pooled results of Gallup World Poll surveys.