Finland ranks world’s happiest country for 8th year in a row

Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the word for the eighth consecutive year, according to the latest report of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a global initiative of the United Nations published on Thursday.

As in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Finland again took the top spot as the happiest country in the world, said the report published marking the International Day of Happiness.

Another Nordic country Denmark secured the second place on the list, followed by Iceland, Sweden, Netherlands and Costa Rica.

Afghanistan ranked at the very bottom of the list of 147 countries followed by Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Country rankings are based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life, said Sustainable Development Solutions Network in a press release.

Interdisciplinary experts from economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

These factors help to explain the differences across nations, while the rankings themselves are based solely on the answers people give when asked to rate their own lives.

“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,” said Lara B. Aknin, professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University, and an editor of the World Happiness Report.