Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year. We take a look at the latest World Happiness Report
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.
Ever since 2011, when the United Nations (UN) adopted a resolution sponsored by Bhutan, entitled ‘Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development’, governments have worked to give more weight to happiness and well-being when determining how to achieve and measure social and economic development.
As such, various indices attempt to rank the happiest countries in the world annually. Now in its 11th year, the World Happiness Report from the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is particularly interesting as it ranks 147 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
“Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back. This year’s report proves we underestimate how kind the world really is. If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.”
Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup
The SDSN employs an international group of economists, neuroscientists and statisticians to survey citizens on their subjective well-being to produce a comprehensive annual list of the happiest countries in the world.
Assessing happiness
SDSN highlights that its rankings are not an index like the longer-running Human Development Index (HDI) and the more recent Happy Planet Index (HPI). Private sponsors often influence these and only partly draw on self-assessment – or make no use of it at all.
“Human happiness is driven by our relationships with others. Investing in positive social connections and engaging in benevolent actions are both matched by greater happiness.”
Lara B Aknin, World Happiness Report
SDSN emphasises that its findings draw heavily on data from population samples in each country, using a life evaluation survey to produce subjective well-being data. The report draws on interviews with over 100,000 people across 147 countries.
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?”
World Happiness Report
That is not to say the report is without a scientific basis. Economic and social factors 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.
10 happiest countries
Once again, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world, with a score of 7.736 out of 10. It came above three other Nordic countries, while Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time.
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Netherlands
- Costa Rica
- Norway
- Israel
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
10 unhappiest countries
At the other end of the table, war-scarred Afghanistan remains last as its humanitarian crisis continues to deepen after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The geography of happiness
Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between unhappiness and the world’s poorest and most dangerous countries. Seven of the 10 unhappiest nations are in Africa, with the other three, Afghanistan, Yemen and Lebanon, facing political and financial instability.
Seven of the 10 happiest countries are European nations, with only Costa Rica, Israel and Mexico from outside Europe. Costa Rica, in 6th, is the highest-ranked country in the Americas. Both the UK and the US have slipped down the list to 23rd and 24th, respectively – the lowest-ever position for the latter.
Australia and New Zealand have both dropped one place to 11th and 12th. Afghanistan remains bottom of the overall rankings as the world’s unhappiest country.
The happiest country in Asia is Taiwan, in 27th place, followed by Singapore in 34th. Uruguay (28th) is the happiest country in South America, and Mauritius (78) is the happiest country in Africa.
Lost wallets + other findings
The study also found strangers are approximately twice as kind as people thought. It measured trust in strangers by deliberately losing wallets and noting how many were returned. The result was then compared with how many people expected to be handed in.
The rate of wallets returned was almost twice as high as people predicted, and the study found that belief in the kindness of others was more closely tied to happiness than previously thought.
“Human happiness is driven by our relationships with others. Investing in positive social connections and engaging in benevolent actions are both matched by greater happiness. The wallet data are so convincing because they confirm that people are much happier living where they think people care about each other. The wallet dropping experiments confirm the reality of these perceptions, even if they are everywhere too pessimistic.”
John F. Helliwell, World Happiness Report
The 2025 World Happiness Report also found:
- Sharing meals with others is strongly linked with well-being across all global regions, but the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased by 53% over the past two decades.
- Household size is closely linked to happiness. Four to five people living together enjoy the highest levels of happiness in Mexico and Europe, but many people in Europe are living on their own.
- Declining happiness and social trust in the US and parts of Europe combine to explain the rise and direction of political polarisation and anti-system votes.
- The cost-effectiveness of charities varies dramatically. Some charities are hundreds of times better at increasing happiness per dollar than others.
“This year’s report pushes us to look beyond traditional determinants like health and wealth. It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are even stronger predictors of wellbeing than expected. In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again – doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing.”
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, World Happiness Report
Happiest countries in the world 2025 – complete rankings
The World Happiness Report compiles data from the previous three years of available surveys. The overall happiness scores are calculated from the average of the six factors mentioned above.
- Finland, 7.736
- Denmark, 7.521
- Iceland, 7.515
- Sweden, 7.345
- Netherlands, 7.306
- Costa Rica, 7.274
- Norway, 7.262
- Israel, 7.234
- Luxembourg, 7.122
- Mexico, 6.979
- Australia, 6.974
- New Zealand, 6.952
- Switzerland, 6.935
- Belgium, 6.91
- Ireland, 6.889
- Lithuania, 6.829
- Austria, 6.81
- Canada, 6.803
- Slovenia, 6.792
- Czechia, 6.775
- UAE, 6.759
- Germany, 6.753
- UK, 6.728
- USA, 6.724
- Belize, 6.711
- Poland, 6.673
- Taiwan, 6.669
- Uruguay, 6.661
- Kosovo, 6.659
- Kuwait, 6.629
- Serbia, 6.606
- Saudi Arabia, 6.6
- France, 6.593
- Singapore, 6.565
- Romania, 6.563
- Brazil, 6.494
- El Salvador, 6.492
- Spain, 6.466
- Estonia, 6.417
- Italy, 6.415
- Panama, 6.407
- Argentina, 6.397
- Kazakhstan, 6.378
- Guatemala, 6.362
- Chile, 6.361
- Vietnam, 6.352
- Nicaragua, 6.33
- Malta, 6.316
- Thailand, 6.222
- Slovakia, 6.221
- Latvia, 6.207
- Oman, 6.197
- Uzbekistan, 6.193
- Paraguay, 6.172
- Japan, 6.147
- Bosnia & Herzegovina, 6.136
- Philippines, 6.107
- South Korea, 6.038
- Bahrain, 6.03
- Portugal, 6.013
- Colombia, 6.004
- Ecuador, 5.965
- Honduras, 5.964
- Malaysia, 5.955
- Peru, 5.947
- Russia, 5.945
- Cyprus, 5.942
- China, 5.921
- Hungary, 5.915
- Trinidad & Tobago, 5.905
- Montenegro, 5.877
- Croatia, 5.87
- Jamaica, 5.87
- Bolivia, 5.868
- Kyrgyzstan, 5.858
- Dominican Rep, 5.846
- Mongolia, 5.833
- Mauritius, 5.832
- Libya, 5.82
- Moldova, 5.819
- Greece, 5.776
- Venezuela, 5.683
- Indonesia, 5.617
- Algeria, 5.571
- Bulgaria, 5.554
- North Macedonia, 5.503
- Armenia, 5.494
- Hong Kong, 5.491
- Albania, 5.411
- Tajikistan, 5.411
- Georgia, 5.4
- Nepal, 5.311
- Lao PDR, 5.301
- Türkiye, 5.262
- South Africa, 5.213
- Mozambique, 5.19
- Gabon, 5.12
- Côte d’Ivoire, 5.102
- Iran, 5.093
- Congo, 5.03
- Iraq, 4.976
- Guinea, 4.929
- Namibia, 4.911
- Cameroon, 4.887
- Nigeria, 4.885
- Azerbaijan, 4.875
- Senegal, 4.856
- Palestine, 4.78
- Pakistan, 4.768
- Niger, 4.725
- Ukraine, 4.68
- Morocco, 4.622
- Tunisia, 4.552
- Mauritania, 4.542
- Kenya, 4.51
- Uganda, 4.461
- Gambia, 4.423
- India, 4.389
- Chad, 4.384
- Burkina Faso, 4.383
- Benin, 4.357
- Somalia, 4.347
- Mali, 4.345
- Cambodia, 4.341
- Ghana, 4.34
- Myanmar, 4.321
- Togo, 4.315
- Jordan, 4.31
- Liberia, 4.277
- Madagascar, 4.157
- Zambia, 3.912
- Ethiopia, 3.898
- Sri Lanka, 3.891
- Bangladesh, 3.851
- Egypt, 3.817
- Tanzania, 3.8
- Eswatini, 3.774
- Lesotho, 3.757
- Comoros, 3.754
- Yemen, 3.561
- DR Congo, 3.469
- Botswana, 3.438
- Zimbabwe, 3.396
- Malawi, 3.26
- Lebanon, 3.188
- Sierra Leone, 2.998
- Afghanistan, 1.364
Top 10 happiest cities
In 2020, the report also ranked individual cities by residents’ perception of their well-being. Unsurprisingly, Finland’s capital, Helsinki, was in first position.
- 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 2020 city rankings here.
More rankings and articles can be found in our remote work area:
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► World’s worst countries to drive in
► Most peaceful countries in the world
► Best countries for women
► Poorest countries in the world – ranked
► World’s most powerful passport
► Countries with the fastest internet in the world
► Most stressed countries in the world
► Most expensive cities for expats
► World’s most democratic countries
► Happiest cities in the world
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