The World Happiness Report 2025 has been released with the International Day of Happiness, which falls on 20 March every year. The report assesses the quality of life in more than 140 nations based on resident feedback. It checks numerous factors, including health, social support, generosity, perception of corruption, and GDP, to determine the happiness level of 147 countries.
As per the report, Finland has been named the world‘s happiest nation again. This is the 8th straight year that the Nordic nation has retained the top spot in the happiest index. Finland is closely followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. These nations have ranked high in happiness due to their solid social support system, high living standards, and commitment to work-life balance.
This year, Costa Rica and Mexico made their debut in the the top 10 of happiest index, securing the 6th and 10 position respectively. In contrary, US dropped to its lowed ranking at 24th position and the UK ranked at 23.
Inda has made a slight improvement in its position, moving up from 126 last year to 118 in the latest World Happiness Report. But this position still posits India behind several conflict-affected nations like Ukraine, Iraq, and Mozambique.
Interestingly, India is top in social support because of its strong community-focused culture and tradition of large families living together. On the other hand, the country scored poorly on the freedom factors, assessing whether people feel they have choices in their community and if those lead to a satisfactory life.
The neighboring nations like Nepal ranked the highest at 92, followed by Pakistan at 109, China at 68, Sri Lanka at 133, and Bangladesh at 134.
Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest nation in the world. Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest followed by Lebanon, ranking the 3rds from the bottom.