- Ireland in 15th place up from 19th
- Norway knocked Denmark off the top spot
Norway knocked Denmark off the top spot as the world’s happiest country, with Ireland in 15th place, up from 19th in 2016.
Iceland and Switzerland round out the top four in the World Happiness Report 2017, produced by a United Nations unit headed up by Jeffrey D. Sachs.
Finland is ranked in fifth place, followed by the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.
Ireland and Iceland were cited as “the best examples of happiness maintenance in the face of large external shocks. Both suffered decimation oft heir banking systems as extreme as anywhere,and yet have suffered incommensurately small happiness losses.”
“That there is a continuing high degree of social support in both countries is indicated by the fact that of all the countries surveyed by the Gallup World Poll, the percentage of people who report that they have someone to count on in times of crisis is exceptionally high in Iceland and Ireland.”
“Averaging across the 2014-16 GWP surveys, Iceland and Ireland are ranked first and fourth, respectively, in terms of social support, with over 98pc of Icelandic respondents, and 96pc of Irish ones, having someone to count on, compared to an international average of 80pc.
Ireland’s happiness declined by -0.167 between 2005-2007 to 2014-2016. Ireland is ranked 34th in the Ranking of Standard Deviation of Happiness by Country 2012-2015 and 40th in the Changes in Standard Deviation of Happiness from 2005-2011 to 2012-2015.
The index used six variables explain happiness differences among countries and through time, income, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on in times of trouble, generosity, freedom and trust, considered by the absence of corruption in business and government.
The world’s “unhappiest” countries are all in the Middle East and Africa: war-stricken Yemen and Syria feature in the bottom 10, with Tanzania, Burundi and Central African Republic making up the final three.
Norway (7.537)
- Denmark (7.522)
- Iceland (7.504)
- Switzerland (7.494)
- Finland (7.469)
- Netherlands (7.377)
- Canada (7.316)
- New Zealand (7.314)
- Australia (7.284)
- Sweden (7.284)
- Israel (7.213)
- Costa Rica (7.079)
- Austria (7.006)
- United States (6.993)
- Ireland (6.977)
- Germany (6.951)
- Belgium (6.891)
- Luxembourg (6.863)
- Britain (6.714)
- Chile (6.652)
- United Arab Emirates (6.648)
- Brazil (6.635)
- Czech Republic (6.609)
- Argentina (6.599)
- Mexico (6.578)
- Singapore (6.572)
- Malta (6.527)
- Uruguay (6.454)
- Guatemala (6.454)
- Panama (6.452)
- France (6.442)
- Thailand (6.424)
- Taiwan (6.422)
- Spain (6.403)
- Qatar (6.375)
- Colombia (6.357)
- Saudi Arabia (6.344)
- Trinidad and Tobago (6.168)
- Kuwait (6.105)
- Slovakia (6.098)
- Bahrain (6.087)
- Malaysia (6.084)
- Nicaragua (6.071)
- Ecuador (6.008)
- El Salvador (6.003)
- Poland (5.973)
- Uzbekistan (5.971)
- Italy (5.964)
- Russia (5.963)
- Belize (5.956)
- Japan (5.920)
- Lithuania (5.902)
- Algeria (5.872)
- Latvia (5.850)
- Moldova (5.838)
- South Korea (5.838)
- Romania (5.825)
- Bolivia (5.823)
- Turkmenistan (5.822)
- Kazakhstan (5.819)
- North Cyprus (5.810)
- Slovenia (5.758)
- Peru (5.715)
- Mauritius (5.629)
- Cyprus (5.621)
- Estonia (5.611)
- Belarus (5.569)
- Libya (5.525)
- Turkey (5.500)
- Paraguay (5.493)
- Hong Kong (5.472)
- Philippines (5.430)
- Serbia (5.395)
- Jordan (5.336)
- Hungary (5.324)
- Jamaica (5.311)
- Croatia (5.293)
- Kosovo (5.279)
- China (5.273)
- Pakistan (5.269)
- Indonesia (5.262)
- Venezuela (5.250)
- Montenegro (5.237)
- Morocco (5.235)
- Azerbaijan (5.234)
- Dominican Republic (5.230)
- Greece (5.227)
- Lebanon (5.225)
- Portugal (5.195)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (5.182)
- Honduras (5.181)
- Macedonia (5.175)
- Somalia (5.151)
- Vietnam (5.074)
- Nigeria (5.074)
- Tajikistan (5.041)
- Bhutan (5.011)
- Kyrgyzstan (5.004)
- Nepal (4.962)
- Mongolia (4.955)
- South Africa (4.829)
- Tunisia (4.805)
- Palestinian Territories (4.775)
- Egypt (4.735)
- Bulgaria (4.714)
- Sierra Leone (4.709)
- Cameroon (4.695)
- Iran (4.692)
- Albania (4.644)
- Bangladesh (4.608)
- Namibia (4.574)
- Kenya (4.553)
- Mozambique (4.550)
- Myanmar (4.545)
- Senegal (4.535)
- Zambia (4.514)
- Iraq (4.497)
- Gabon (4.465)
- Ethiopia (4.460)
- Sri Lanka (4.440)
- Armenia (4.376)
- India (4.315)
- Mauritania (4.292)
- Congo (Brazzaville) (4.291)
- Georgia (4.286)
- Congo (Kinshasa) (4.280)
- Mali (4.190)
- Ivory Coast (4.180)
- Cambodia (4.168)
- Sudan (4.139)
- Ghana (4.120)
- Ukraine (4.096)
- Uganda (4.081)
- Burkina Faso (4.032)
- Niger (4.028)
- Malawi (3.970)
- Chad (3.936)
- Zimbabwe (3.875)
- Lesotho (3.808)
- Angola (3.795)
- Afghanistan (3.794)
- Botswana (3.766)
- Benin (3.657)
- Madagascar (3.644)
- Haiti (3.603)
- Yemen (3.593)
- South Sudan (3.591)
- Liberia (3.533)
- Guinea (3.507)
- Togo (3.495)
- Rwanda (3.471)
- Syria (3.462)
- Tanzania (3.349)
- Burundi (2.905)
- Central African Republic (2.693)
