World Happiness Index 2022

World Happiness Index 2022
Insights From the First Global Survey of Balance and Harmony
Balance & harmony have been particularly associated with Eastern cultures, historically and currently. But does that mean they are overlooked or undervalued in the rest of the world?
Tim Lomas, Psychology Research Scientist, from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health & Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University will join us in discussion of insights from the first global survey of balance and harmony. Several new questions were added to the Gallup World Poll in 2020 to measure balance and harmony. We will discuss concepts of balance and harmony typically associated with Eastern culture.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Happiness Report , which uses global survey data to report how people evaluate their own lives in more than 150 countries worldwide. The World Happiness Report 2022 reveals a bright light in dark times. The pandemic brought not only pain and suffering but also an increase in social support and benevolence. As we battle the ills of disease and war, it is essential to remember the universal desire for happiness and the capacity of individuals to rally to each other’s support in times of great need.
The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, powered by the Gallup World Poll data.
The Report is supported by The Ernesto Illy Foundation, illycaffè, Davines Group, Unilever’s largest ice cream brand Wall’s, The Blue Chip Foundation, The William, Jeff, and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation, The Happier Way Foundation, and The Regenerative Society Foundation.
The World Happiness Report was written by a group of independent experts acting in their personal capacities. Any views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization, agency or program of the United Nations.
For general inquiries on the World Happiness Report please reach out to info@worldhappiness.report . For media inquiries please reach out to media@worldhappiness.report .

World Happiness Report 2022: 10 Main Insights

Roman Russo

March 27, 2022

Happiness News

4 Min Read

Roman Russo is the founder, main author, and Chief Happiness Officer at Optimal Happiness. He is also the author of Optimal Happiness: The Fastest & Surest Way to Reach Your Happiest Potential, a revolutionary book about becoming the happiest version we can be. Roman is a master architect in exploring the human potential for well-being, claiming that everyone can reach their maximal happiest potential, and challenging people to reach these highs. Are you ready to accept this challenge?
The World Happiness Report is an annual publication that ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels. The report is primarily based on data from the Gallup World Poll, and it covers a wide range of topics related to happiness, including mental health, physical health, income, employment, social support, etc.
The World Happiness Report is published yearly since the 28th June 2012, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/281 , which proclaimed 20 March International Day of Happiness, and introduced the World Happiness Report as a part of this celebration.
The World Happiness Report 2022 focuses on the data collected over the period of past ten years of happiness data, trying to measure, envision, and inspire a happier world in the future. The report looks at how different countries have fared during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other global challenges such as climate change, economic inequality, and political polarization.
Finland is the happiest country in the world for the fourth year in a row, but this isn’t worth-noting news. What is more interesting are the changes in the absolute level of happiness people experience in places like Balkan countries (e.g., Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia) where well-being has risen by a whole 1 point or more (on a 10 point scale)!
The countries that fell the most in the World Happiness Index are Venezuela, Afghanistan, and Lebanon, while next year, unfortunately, but predictably, Ukraine & Russia are likely to drop in the World Happiness Report Index.
In most countries in the world stress, worry, and sadness have been steadily on the rise in the past years. For example, worry and stress have risen by 8% in 2020 and 4% in 2021, compared to their pre-pandemic levels.
In this regard, we could blame COVID for this downward trend, but this wouldn’t be accurate, as these factors have been steadily and progressively affecting our lives more and more for the last 10 years since the World Happiness Report was first published.
The World Happiness Report 2022 shows that the pandemic has had a profound impact on our mental health. The report finds that the global average life satisfaction score has declined by 0.35 points since 2018, 0.24 points decline in 2020, and 0.14 points in 2021.
The pandemic has also contributed to a decline in employment and income, which has further exacerbated these mental health issues.
There has been a surge in benevolence (i.e. volunteering, giving money to charity, helping others, etc.) since the start of the COVID pandemic. The report finds that the global average score for benevolence has increased by 0.21 points since 2018, 0.17 points in 2020, and 0.14 points in 2021.
The World Happiness Report 2022 also looks at the role of “trust” in the pandemic recovery. The report finds that countries with higher levels of trust (i.e. trust in government, media, and institutions) have fared better during the pandemic.
COVID-19 deaths rates have been considerably lower in countries with greater trust in public institutions and where inequality is the lowest.
The World Happiness Report now measures the happiness content of text, e.i., how often different types of words appear in different sorts of text, such as news reports, social media posts, and books.
This new analytical tool can be used to study how happiness changes over time in response to important events, such as the already mentioned COVID pandemic.
Among all the new tools used in the World Happiness Report, Twitter was found to be the best at analyzing short-term happiness changes in response to major events.
For example, Twitter data was used to examine how people’s happiness varied in the days leading up to and after the US presidential election, finding that there was a sharp increase in happiness after Joe Biden’s victory.
As such, moving forward, Twitter was found to be a great tool to measure happiness movements on a daily and weekly basis. It is a short-term tool that can help to capture mood changes rather than changes in overall life evaluations in response to global events.
Since the mid-2000s, happiness has been a more common topic in news articles. Meanwhile, references to money and GDP have dropped in popularity.
This tells us that people are progressively moving away from a purely economical based approach at looking at happiness and focusing on things that actually make us happier.
Another big area of progress is the relationship between biology and happiness. We now have a plethora of “biomarkers” for happiness. Furthermore, our genetics provide important hints as to why some people are happier than others.
Happiness research in the West has tended to overlook important low-arousal positive emotions, such as calm, peace, and harmony. However, according to recent studies, these low-arousal positive emotions have a major impact on people’s overall satisfaction with life.
In this way, in 2022 World Happiness Report made a special effort to measure and quantify the role of these emotions on our overall sense of well-being, concluding that, for example In Western nations, the encounters of balance, peace, and calm are more widespread, whereas it is less prevalent in poorer countries, such as those in East Asia.
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Happiest Countries in the World 2022
Happiest Countries in the World 2022
Happiest Countries in the World 2022
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Since 2002, the World Happiness Report has used statistical analysis to determine the world's happiest countries. In its 2021 update, the report concluded that Finland is the happiest country in the world. To determine the world's happiest country, researchers analyzed comprehensive Gallup polling data from 149 countries for the past three years, specifically monitoring performance in six particular categories: gross domestic product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make your own life choices, generosity of the general population, and perceptions of internal and external corruption levels.
In order to properly compare each country's data, the researchers created a fictional country—christened Dystopia—filled with "the world's least-happy people." They then set Dystopia as the rock bottom value in each of the six categories and measured the scores of the real-world countries against this value. All six variables were then blended to create a single combined score for each country. Interestingly enough, the top seven happiest countries in the world for 2021 were all Northern European countries. Finland took top honors—for the fourth year in a row—with an overall score of 7.842, followed (in order) by Denmark (7.620), Switzerland (7.571), Iceland (7.554), the Netherlands (7.464), Norway (7.392), and Sweden (7.363).
The least happy country in the world for 2021 was Afghanistan , whose 149th-place ranking of 2.523 can be attributed in part to a low life expectancy rate and low gross domestic product rates per capita. It's worthwhile to note that the report was released before the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, which will undoubtedly impact future scores in one way or another. Rounding out the bottom five are Zimbabwe (3.145), Rwanda (3.415), Botswana (3.467), and Lesotho (3.512). For the full list of all 149 countries and their rankings, scroll down to the table below. For more on the top seven—as well as an inspiring honorable mention—read on.
Finland ranks as the world's happiest country based on the 2021 report, with a score of 7.842 out of a total possible score of 10. The report writers credited the citizens of Finland's strong feelings of communal support and mutual trust with not only helping secure the #1 ranking, but (more importantly) helping the country as a whole navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Finlanders felt strongly that they were free to make their own choices, and showed minimal suspicion of government corruption. Both of these factors are strong contributors to overall happiness.
The second-happiest country in the world is Denmark , which scores 7.620. Denmark's values for each of the six variables are quite comparable to those of Finland. In fact, Denmark even outscored the leader in multiple categories, including GDP per capita, generosity, and perceived lack of corruption, demonstrating that it may claim the top spot sometime in the near future.
As the third-happiest country in the world, Switzerland scored a total of 7.571 out of 10. In general, the Swiss are very healthy, with one of the world's lowest obesity rates and a long life expectancy. The Swiss also have a very high median salary, about 75% higher than that of the United States , and the highest GDP per capita in the top seven. Additionally, there is a strong sense of community in Switzerland and a firm belief that it is a safe and clean country—which is statistically true. Along with Iceland and Denmark, Switzerland is one of the world's safest countries .
Iceland ranks as 2021's fourth-happiest country in the entire world, with a total score of 7.554. Of the top seven happiest countries around the globe, Iceland has the highest feeling of social support (higher even than Finland, Norway, and Denmark, which all tied for second place). Iceland also had the second-highest generosity score in the top seven, though it's worth noting that it ranked only 11th worldwide.
Edging out Norway for the honor of fifth-happiest country in the world is the Netherlands (also known as Holland to many tulip lovers), with a score of 7.464. The Netherlands scored higher in the generosity category than any other top-seven country and also displayed an impressive lack of perceived corruption.
The citizens of sixth-place Norway (7.392) feel they are being well cared for by their government thanks to universal healthcare and free college tuition. Norwegians also enjoy a healthy work-life balance , working an average of 38 hours per week vs. 41.5. hours per week in the United States. Additionally, Norway has a low crime rate and a strong sense of community among its citizens—a quality it shares with many of the top seven.
Seventh-place Sweden (7.363) ranks high, if not quite highest, in virtually every category measured. For example: Sweden has a higher lack of corruption score than all but four countries worldwide (two of which are Finland and Denmark), the fourteenth-highest GDP per capita of all 149 countries measured, and the fourth-highest life expectancy in the top seven.
Bhutan was excluded from the 2021 report due to a technicality: Each country's scores are based upon detailed Gallup polls, but Gallup did not conduct polling in Bhutan during the required timeframe. However, the report's writers made a special effort to pay tribute to Bhutan, saying it "once again provided an inspiring example for the world about how to combine health and happiness. They made explicit use of the principles of Gross National Happiness in mobilizing the whole population in collaborative efforts to avoid even a single COVID-19 death in 2020, despite having strong international travel links." Impressive indeed. If Gallup begins polling in Bhutan, Northern Europe 's hold on happiness may soon have competition.

The U.S. moved up in this year's World Happiness Ranking ⁠— here's where it ranks now
Published Sat, Mar 19 2022 9:00 AM EDT
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Just before sunrise at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., while the cherry blossoms are in bloom.
John Baggaley | Moment | Getty Images
Money and happiness: Does the perfect salary exist?
Finland may be the world's happiest country for five years running ⁠— but the U.S. is gaining ground.
That's according to the 10th annual World Happiness Report , published on Friday by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The U.S. now ranks as the 16th happiest country in the world, lagging just behind Ireland, Germany and Canada.
That's a three-spot gain from last year, when the U.S. was 19th. The U.S. now ranks above countries like the United Kingdom, Czechia, Belgium and France in an array of happiness metrics.
The report uses Gallup World Poll data from 2019 through 2021 to score 146 countries across factors including gross domestic product per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
Researchers note that Finland's victory isn't even close this time around: Its score is "significantly ahead" of any other country. Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands round out the top five, in that order.
The report says that, on average, the world is experiencing a long-term moderate upward trend in stress, worry and sadness, and a slight long-term decline in the enjoyment of life. But average life evaluations, which take into account the net difference of negative and positive influences, have remained "remarkably resilient during Covid-19."
John Helliwell, a professor at the University of British Columbia who helped edit the report, noted a " remarkable worldwide growth " in three acts of kindness measured by the Gallup World Poll: helping strangers, volunteering and making donations. Altogether, the global average of these three actions was up by 25% in 2021, compared with pre-pandemic times.
Notably, data for the report was collected prior to Russia's attack on Ukraine. Authors say future prospects for global happiness will depend on the course of the Covid pandemic and the scale of military conflict.
"The pandemic brought not only pain and suffering but also an increase in social support and benevolence," the report reads. "As we battle the ills of disease and war, it is essential to remember the universal desire for happiness and the capacity of individuals to rally to each other's support in times of great need."
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