The eighth annual World Happiness Report dropped last month. A bit of news on happiness is something we could all use right about now.
World Happiness Day was initiated in Bhutan, the home of Gross National Happiness (GNP). It was proposed to the United Nations in 2011. In turn, international attention looked to happiness as a measurement of well-being.
The World Happiness Report (WHR) is a landmark annual survey that measures the state of global happiness by ranking 150+ countries according to their happiness levels. Six key variables – GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption – explain the variation of happiness across countries. Scores are based on individuals’ own assessments of their lives.
‘[WHR’s] central purpose remains as it was for the first Report, to review the science of measuring and understanding subjective well-being, and to use survey measures of life satisfaction to track the quality of lives as they are being lived in more than 150 countries.”
I had been exploring the state of global happiness – and the quest for happiness for a while before writing about the first Happiness Report of 2012. The reports have evolved tremendously and provide insights into places and behaviors that I explore across other topics.
Overview
The 2019 report focused on connections and happiness. The 2020 WHR studies our environments for happiness: Social, urban and natural.
Social environment: Examines the Nordic countries where personal and institutional trust are high and serve as key factors in explaining why life evaluations soar in those countries.
Urban life: Examines the happiness ranking of cities then compares levels of happiness in cities and rural areas globally.
Natural environment: Examines how the local environments affect happiness.
‘…new evidence…[affirms]… the power of an environment to raise average life quality and to reduce inequality.’
What is the benchmark?
The benchmark for measurement is a fictitious country called Dystopia with the world’s lowest incomes, lowest life expectancy, lowest generosity, most corruption, least freedom and least social support.
Country Happiness Ranking (150+)
Total Population 2017-2019
Finland three-peats, remaining the happiest country for the third year in a row followed by Denmark, retaining its second place position and Switzerland, moving up from the sixth position. Within the top 10 positions, Luxembourg is a new entry making substantial upward movement from 14th place last year, while Canada has dropped out of the top 10 to 11th place.
Finland
Denmark
Switzerland
Iceland
Norway
Netherlands
Sweden
New Zealand
Austria
Luxembourg
The United States ranks 18th, gaining one place since 2019.
Changes in Country Happiness Ranking (149)
2008-2012 and 2017-2019
Changes in life evaluations were measured for the 149 countries with the most significant data – 118 had significant changes – 65 were significant increases, on average approximately 1.3%. While the positive affect over the study period has been relatively stable, the negative affect has shown a rapid increase. The increase is sizable – from about 22% in 2011 up to 29.3% in 2019.
Which negative emotions were responsible for this increase? WHR 2020 unpacked those changes into three components: Worry, sadness, and anger.
Benin
Togo
Hungary
Bulgaria
Philippines
Guinea
Congo (Brazzaville)
Serbia
Ivory Coast
Romania
The United States dropped to 113th, showing a nearly .2% drop in happiness levels over last year.
Benin continued its upward trajectory and remained at the top for another year, while six new countries moved into the top. The five largest drops since 2008-2012 were in Venezuela, almost two points, and Afghanistan, Lesotho, Zambia, and India with drops of over one point each.
Final Thoughts
The report is a fascinating read dealing with consequential world issues that continue to shift as populations change and diversify – while social issues continue to polarize within borders. Another interesting report worth a look is the Sustainable Development Report (SDR).
Map infographics: © 2020 Janet Giampietro | Photo: Trung Thanh on Unsplash
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