Norway beat Denmark and Iceland to the top spot | Thomas Winje Oijord/EPA Norway overtakes Denmark at the top of UN happiness scale Europe dominates top 10 but US has fallen steadily over the past decade.

Norway has overtaken Denmark as the happiest country on earth, according to the United Nations World Happiness Report published Monday. The top 10 includes seven European countries.

The report measures subjective well-being by asking people in more than 150 countries about how GDP, social support, health expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perception of corruption determine their individual life.

On a scale from one to 10, Norway ranked the highest (7.537), just ahead of Denmark (7.522) and Iceland (7.504).

Germany was ranked 16, followed by the United Kingdom on 19 (up four places) and France (31). Happiness was perceived the lowest in the Central African Republic with an average of 2.69.

Happiness is declining in the U.S., the figures suggest: The country went from No. 3 in 2007 to 14 this year.

"America's crisis is, in short, a social crisis, not an economic crisis," the report said, citing social support and increased corruption as reasons.

President Donald Trump's policies could make perceived happiness worse, Jeffrey Sachs, director of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Solutions Network, said.

"They are all aimed at increasing inequality — tax cuts at the top, throwing people off the health care rolls, cutting Meals on Wheels in order to raise military spending. I think everything that has been proposed goes in the wrong direction," Sachs told Reuters.