World Happiness Report
April 1, 2012 saw the release of the first World Happiness Report and they have been released annually since 2016. The rankings are determined based on various life factors—such as social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, etc. Ranking also incorporate a happiness measurement survey done by Gallup around the world, in which respondents are asked to think of the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. Put everything together and each country is given a World Happiness Score—which is determined as an average of the previous three years.
For this list we will look at the top 50 countries ranked in the 2024 report, as well as their score and where they place in the previous 2023 report.
50: Cyprus (6.07)
Position in 2023: 46 (6.13)
49: Kazakhstan (6.19)
Position in 2023: 44 (6.14)
Asian Development Bank, Flickr
48: Argentina (6.19)
Position in 2023: 52 (6.02)
47: Uzbekistan (6.2)
Position in 2023: 54 (6.01)
46: Latvia (6.23)
Position in 2023: 41 (6.21)
45: Slovakia (6.26)
Position in 2023: 29 (6.47)
The 16-spot swing in the rankings is the largest drop of any country in the 2024 top 50. Their -.21 point decrease is also the biggest drop of any top 50 country.
44: Brazil (6.27)
Position in 2023: 49 (6.13)
43: Nicaragua (6.28)
Position in 2023: 40 (6.26)
42: Guatemala (6.29)
Position in 2023: 43 (6.15)
41: Italy (6.32)
Position in 2023: 33 (6.41)
Karl Allen Lugmayer, Shutterstock
40: Malta (6.35)
Position in 2023: 37 (6.30)
39: Panama (6.36)
Position in 2023: 38 (6.26)
38: Chile (6.36)
Position in 2023: 35 (6.33)
37: Serbia (6.41)
Position in 2023: 45 (6.14)
36: Spain (6.42)
Position in 2023: 32 (6.44)
35: Poland (6.44)
Position in 2023: 39 (6.26)
34: Estonia (6.45)
Position in 2023: 31 (6.46)
Richard Cavalleri, Shutterstock
33: El Salvador (6.47)
Position in 2023: 50 (6.12)
El Salvador's 17-spot swing was the largest change—up or down—of any country in the 2024 top 50. Their .35 point increase is tied for the most of aPosition inny country in the top 50.
SALMONNEGRO-STOCK, Shutterstock
32: Romania (6.49)
Position in 2023: 24 (6.59)
31: Taiwan (6.5)
Position in 2023: 27 (6.54)
30: Singapore (6.52)
Position in 2023: 25 (6.59)
Unwicked, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
29: Kosovo (6.56)
Position in 2023: 34 (score unavailable)
UN Women Europe and Central Asia, Flickr
28: Saudi Arabia (6.59)
Position in 2023: 30 (6.46)
27: France (6.61)
Position in 023: 21 (6.66)
26: Uruguay (6.61)
Position in 2023: 28 (6.49)
25: Mexico (6.68)
Position in 2023: 36 (6.33)
Mexico's .35 point increase is tied for the most of any country in the 2024 top 50.
24: Germany (6.72)
Position in 2023: 16: (6.89)
23: United States (6.73)
Position in 2023: 15 (6.89)
22: United Arab Emirates (6.73)
Position in 2023: 26 (6.57)
21: Slovenia (6.74)
Position in 2023: 22 (6.65)
Natalia Deriabina, Shutterstock
20: United Kingdom (6.75)
Position in 2023: 19 (6.8)
19: Lithuania (6.82)
Position in 2023: 20 (6.76)
Sheviakova Kateryna, Shutterstock
18: Czech Republic (6.82)
Position in 2023: 18 (6.84)
17: Ireland (6.84)
Position in 2023: 14 (6.91)
VanderWolf Images, Shutterstock
16: Belgium (6.89)
Position in 2023: 17 (6.86)
Aliaksandr Antanovich, Shutterstock
15: Canada (6.9)
Position in 2023: 13 (6.96)
14: Austria (6.91)
Position in 2023: 11 (7.1)
13: Kuwait (6.95)
Position in 2023: n/a
Position in 2022: 50 (6.11)
12: Costa Rica (6.96)
Position in 2023: 23 (6.61)
Costa Rica's .35 point increase is tied for the most of any country in the 2024 top 50.
11: New Zealand (7.03)
Position in 2023: 10 (7.12)
New Zealand is the only country from the 2023 list to fall out of the top 10 in 2024 (albeit, just barely).
10: Australia (7.06)
Position in 2023: 12 (7.09)
Australia is the only new entrant in the top 10 for the 2024 rankings.
9: Switzerland (7.06)
Position in 2023: 8 (7.24)
8: Luxembourg (7.12)
Position in 2023: 9 (7.23)
7: Norway (7.3)
Position in 2023: 7 (7.32)
6: Netherlands (7.32)
Position in 2023: 5 (7.4)
5: Israel (7.34)
Position in 2023: 4 (7.47)
4: Sweden (7.34)
Position in 2023: 6 (7.39)
3: Iceland (7.53)
Position in 2023: 3 (7.53)
2: Denmark (7.58)
Position in 2023: 2 (7.59)
1: Finland (7.74)
Position in 2023: 1 (7.8)
Finland has held the top spot on the list for seven years in a row.
