Happiness World Happiness Report 2024

[Maciamo]

This year's report has just been published. As usual Nordic countries top the list, although Israel now managed to climb to the 5th place, ahead of Norway. I had analysed the 2018 report thoroughly at the time. Back then Israel ranked 11th. Kuwait rose from the 45th to 13th place in the last six years.

Here is the top 50.

1. Finland (7.741)
2. Denmark (7.583)
3. Iceland (7.525)
4. Sweden (7.344)
5. Israel (7.341)
6. Netherlands (7.319)
7. Norway (7.302)
8. Luxembourg (7.122)
9. Switzerland (7.060)
10. Australia (7.057)
11. New Zealand (7.029)
12. Costa Rica (6.955)
13. Kuwait (6.951)
14. Austria (6.905)
15. Canada (6.900)
16. Belgium (6.894)
17. Ireland (6.838)
18. Czechia (6.822)
19. Lithuania (6.818)
20. United Kingdom (6.749)
21. Slovenia (6.743)
22. United Arab Emirates (6.733)
23. United States (6.725)
24. Germany (6.719)
25. Mexico (6.678)
26. Uruguay (6.611)
27. France (6.609)
28. Saudi Arabia (6.594)
29. Kosovo (6.561)
30. Singapore (6.523)
31. Taiwan Province of China (6.503)
32. Romania (6.491)
33. El Salvador (6.469)
34. Estonia (6.448)
35. Poland (6.442)
36. Spain (6.421)
37. Serbia (6.411)
38. Chile (6.360)
39. Panama (6.358)
40. Malta (6.346)
41. Italy (6.324)
42. Guatemala (6.287)
43. Nicaragua (6.284)
44. Brazil (6.272)
45. Slovakia (6.257)
46. Latvia (6.234)
47. Uzbekistan (6.195)
48. Argentina (6.188)
49. Kazakhstan (6.188)
50. Cyprus (6.068)

English-speaking countries have all lost ground since 2018 except Australia which is stationary:

New Zealand : 8 => 11 (-3)
Australia 10 (0)
Canada : 7 => 15 (-8)
Ireland : 14 => 21 (-7)
United Kingdom : 19 => 20 (-1)
United States : 18 => 23 (-5)

East Asian countries keep underperforming compared to their level of development.

30. Singapore
31. Taiwan
51. Japan
52. South Korea
60. China
86. Hong Kong (probably due to the increasing loss of civil liberties)

By region, the reports states that Central and Eastern European countries have seen the biggest increase in happiness since 2005, while South Asian countries have deteriorated the most. Now Sub-Saharan African countries are on average happier than South Asian ones. Out of 143 countries surveyed, India ranked 126th, Sri Lanka 128th and Bangladesh 129th. Afghanistan remains the unhappiest country in the world - by a long shot.

This year's report also ranks countries by age groups. Nordic countries may rank highest for the Lower Middle Age, Upper Middle Age and the Old, but among the Young, Lithuanians, Israeli and Serbs are the happiest.

The Young

1. Lithuania
2. Israel
3. Serbia
4. Iceland
5. Denmark

The Lower Middle Age

1. Finland
2. Israel
3. Denmark
4. Iceland
5. Netherlands

The Upper Middle Age

1. Finland
2. Iceland
3. Sweden
4. Denmark
5. Netherlands

The Old

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Iceland

In the United States, upper middle aged and old people are the happiest (17th and 10th respectively), while young and lower middle aged people are rather unhappy (62th and 42th). In fact young Americans are the least happy of any Western country. They have a similar score to young Russians, Albanians or Peruvians.

 

[Maciamo]

Here is a map of thr scores by country for this year's world happiness report.

 

[Maciamo]

The ranking of the happiest young people (under 30 years old) worldwide.

 

[Maciamo]

Looking at the data again, I see that Mexico is the happiest country in Latin America with the same score as the United States. It's funny and somewhat ironic with all those Mexicans trying to get into the US. Turns out people in both countries are equally happy anyway.

But the most ironic is that young Mexican people (under 30 years old) are considerably happier than young Americans. Young Mexicans score 6.9 (22nd worldwide) against 6.3 (62nd) for young Americans. As most of the immigrants are young one could wonder why they would want to move to the US at all. Of course not all immigrants that crossed the US from Mexico are Mexicans, but many Central American countries also score better than the US. That includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

 

[Maciamo]

Countries where people have become less happy since 2010. Among developed countries we only find Canada, the US and Ireland.

And those getting happier. Most of them are in the Eastern half of Europe, Central Asia and East Asia.