Finland is the happiest country in the world, according to the UN annual report released today, with Burundi at the bottom of the list of happiness index and Americans less happy even though their country has become richer. The report was released today at an event at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican, in anticipation of the UN World Day of Happiness on March 20.
The UN Global Happiness Report 2018 ranked 156 countries according to their performance on indicators such as Gross Domestic Product per capita, social support, freedom, healthy living expectancy, generosity, absence of corruption.
Finland moved up from fifth place last year to take the lead from Norway. The 10 happiest countries in 2018 are: Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.
The US ranks 18th on the list, up from 14th last year. Britain in 19th place and the United Arab Emirates in 20th.
A chapter in the 170-page report is devoted to emerging health problems such as obesity, depression and the opiate overdose crisis, especially in the US, where the prevalence of these three problems is growing faster than in most other countries. .
While per capita income has risen sharply in the United States over the past fifty years, the happiness index has been hit by weak social networks, an increase in perceptions of government and business corruption, and a decline in trust in public institutions.
"Obviously we have a social crisis in the United States: more inequality, less trust in government," said Jeffrey Zacks, head of Columbia University in New York. "It simply came to our notice then. The country is getting richer but it is not getting happier ".
Asked how the current political situation in the US could affect future happiness index reports, Zacks replied: "Time will tell, but generally I would say that when trust in government is low, the perception of corruption is high, inequality is high and health conditions are deteriorating, this does not lead to pleasant emotions ".
For the first time since its launch in 2012, the report, which uses a variety of polling services, official data and research methods, ranked the happiness of foreign immigrants in 117 countries.
Finland also holds the top spot in this category, earning a double gold medal for these statistics.
Foreigners have been least happy in Syria, which has been plagued by seven years of civil war.
"The most striking finding in the report is the remarkable correlation between the happiness of immigrants and natives," said Professor John Heliwell of the University of British Columbia in Canada. "Although immigrants come from countries with very different levels of happiness, their assessments of life converge with those of other residents in their new countries. "Those who go to happier countries win, while those who go to less happy countries lose."