Fresh off the back of a global pandemic, countries around the world now face soaring inflation, climbing cost-of-living, stock market uncertainty, climate emergencies and economic turmoil, but an annual report on global happiness shows that while anxiety and uncertainty remain at an all-time high, our spirits haven’t been dampened.
The recently released 2023 World Happiness Report shows that despite several overlapping crises, there has been a surprising resilience in how people rate their lives overall.
The report, which looks at 6 different key happiness factors - social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption - ranks 95 countries on how their people’s happiness has fared over the past 12 months.
The report takes a closer look at the trends of how happiness is distributed, in many cases unequally, among people and it examines the happiness gap between the top and the bottom halves of the population
Where does Australia place?
Australia held its place as the 12th happiest country in the world for another year - unchanged from 2022, and only one spot higher from 13th place a decade earlier in 2012.
Ok, so Australia hasn’t made the top 10 on the list, but considering the economic turmoil and uncertainty over the past 12 months, we should be proud of the stability that our economy and our leaders have provided.
Australia has a resilient economy that has withstood the challenges of a global pandemic and is bouncing back quickly which is why our nation often ranks highly in global indexes as a desirable destination to live, work, study and invest.
No wonder our happiness ranks so highly, Australians have a lot to be grateful for.
I certainly still think we are lucky that we live in the best country in the world at the best time in history.
World’s happiest countries 2023
For the 6th year running, Finland has come out on top in the annual list powered by data from the Gallup World Poll, with Denmark, Iceland, Israel and the Netherlands following in second, third, fourth and fifth position respectively.
In fact, the same top 10 countries made the top 10 list in 2022 also, just in a different order.
Israel has climbed to 4th place, from 9th place in 2022, switching places with Switzerland which moved from 4th to 9th place for this year’s ranking.
Canada came in at No.13, followed by Ireland, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Czechia, the United Kingdom and in 20th place, Lithuania.
The World Happiness Report noted Lithuania is the only new country in the top 20 and it has moved up 30 places since 2017.
“Average happiness and our country rankings, for emotions as well as life evaluations, have been remarkably stable during the three COVID-19 years,” said report editor John Helliwell.
“Changes in rankings that have taken place have been continuations of longer-term trends, such as the increases seen in the rankings of the three Baltic countries.
“Even during these difficult years, positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones, and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness.”
The Top 20 Happiest Countries in the World for 2023
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Israel
- The Netherlands
- Sweden
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Luxembourg
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Australia
- Canada
- Ireland
- United States
- Germany
- Belgium
- Czechia
- United Kingdom
- Lithuania
What makes some countries happier than others?
According to the World Happiness Report, there are six factors that help explain countries' varying degrees of happiness.
- GDP per capita: Gross Domestic Product, or how much each country produces, is divided by the number of people in the country.
- Healthy life expectancy: Based on World Health Organisation data, this takes into account how long a person's life is, and also their physical and mental health throughout their life.
- Social support: The World Happiness report defines this as having someone to count on in times of trouble.
- Freedom to make life choices: This takes into account survey participants' views on their freedom with respect to human rights regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language or religion. It also includes the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and other torture, freedom of opinion and expression and the right to work and education.
- Generosity: This is about how willing citizens are to help their fellow humans. In some cultures, people are drawn to behaviours that help benefit others.
- Perception of Corruption: This covers views on government corruption but also what level of trust people have in their country’s abilities to act in a way that isn’t corrupt.
Why do the Nordic countries always rate so high?
A raft of Europe’s Nordic countries continues to rank highly even throughout the past 12 months.
For the 6th year in a row, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world, followed by Denmark and Iceland.
The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway follow close behind.
While I would originally question the appeal of living in just a cold country (there must be something I don’t understand), it doesn’t seem to be a coincidence.
In fact, Nordic countries historically rank so highly on the happiness report because of the support their governments give them.
Free healthcare, free education, low crime rates, and extended parental and annual leave compared to the rest of the world, are just a few highlights of living in these countries.
For example, new parents in Sweden are entitled to 480 days of leave at 80% of their normal pay.
The Nordic has absolutely hit the nail on the head when it comes to work-life balance, which happens to be one of the key contributors to happiness.
The unhappiest countries in the world
Besides the happiest countries in the world, the Happiness Report also looked at the places where people are the most miserable.
And there were some common themes.
Most are located in underdeveloped countries which have experienced war, armed conflict, political instability or natural catastrophes.
This year, the lowest-scoring country in the World Happiness Report is war-torn Afghanistan for another year running.
Afghanistan’s low life expectancy rate, paired with low gross domestic product rates per capita are the key reasons for its low ranking.
Lebanon comes in as the country with the second lowest rank for happiness across the world thanks to its poor life expectancy, lack of freedom and high perception of corruption.
Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo round out the remainder of the list of the world’s five most unhappy countries.
The Bottom 10 Most Unhappy Countries in the World
- Afghanistan
- Lebanon
- Sierra Leone
- Zimbabwe
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Botswana
- Malawi
- Comoros
- Tanzania
- Zambia
The bottom line
People have been seeking an understanding of happiness since time began, and it’s unlikely that slicing and dicing data and sentiment will crack the code for what it takes to truly be happy.
What is interesting though is how our happiness hinges on our mental and physical wealth and the support, peace and trust in our nation and its government.
