Happy, happy, happy: Switzerland tops list as the world’s happiest place to live
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The 3rd annual World Happiness Report has been released revealing that Switzerland is now the happiest place on Earth, knocking Denmark off top spot.
The report, which incorporates 158 nations worldwide, is still dominated by Scandinavian countries – with Iceland (2nd), Denmark (3rd), Norway (4th), Finland (6th) and Sweden (8th) all featuring in the top ten.
The UK is a little bit happier than last year, rising from 22nd to 21st.
Popular expat destinations, Canada and Australia, came fifth and tenth respectively while the US came 15th.
Netherlands (7th) and New Zealand (9th) complete the top ten.
While the rankings take in a number of factors, including GDP per Capita, life expectancy and results from other Global surveys, the overall rankings tend to follow a similar pattern with wealthier nations dominating the top half of the list.
Unsurprisingly, those rated as the least happy are places of civil unrest and poor economies. Togo came last, preceded by Burundi, Syria Benin, Rwanda and Afghanistan.
The report has also highlighted that during the global recession, the impact that poorly performing economies was less important than how the wider societies were able to deal with economic issues.
This is highlighted by Iceland’s 2nd place ranking where trust and wellbeing (identified by low levels of perceived corruption and high levels of social support), despite an economy which was close to collapse. If you compare this to Greece, the recession was combined with political and social unrest has led to the largest fall in the rankings, accompanied with Spain.
You can view the full report via the World Happiness Report website.