It’s been over 10 years since the first World Happiness Report was released in 2012. Since then, the United Nations has released an annual ranking of the world’s happiest countries: the places where the populations are, on average, more content than in other destinations. In that time, many nations have gone through a multi-year pandemic, natural disasters, and wars, but the UN and governments across the globe remain committed to finding out what exactly makes people happier so they can develop policies to increase well-being.
Around 1,000 people in each U.N. member state rate their quality of life on a scale from 0 to 10, while researchers cull data from six areas: GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support, trust and corruption, perceived freedom to make life decisions, and generosity. Spoiler alert: Countries where the “happiness gap” is smaller—where the population has a similar experience of and access to the six factors listed above—tend to be happier overall. The latest report was released in March.
How does the study work?
Below, we talk about the factors that might explain the variation in self-reported happiness between countries globally. The World Happiness Report doesn’t construct its list based on these factors and measures—rather, the people polled provide self-assessments of their own lives by placing themselves on the Cantril Scale. This is basically assessing where you would put yourself on a ladder of self-satisfaction; the top of the ladder, or 10, would be the happiest you can be, while the bottom of the ladder, or zero, would be the least happy you can be.
The World Happiness Report then measures and investigates a number of factors that could correlate with the variations in the average happiness of each country’s population, which we discuss below. Read on for the list of the 10 happiest countries in the world—and who knows? Maybe just daydreaming about visiting these countries will give you a boost of happiness.
A version of this article originally appeared in Condé Nast Traveller UK. All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
