Finland stood the world's happiest country for a seventh straight year in an annual UN-sponsored World Happiness Report. Pakistan stood at 108 number. As per the report, the young and youth of Pakistan are the happiest among the population while old people are least happy in Pakistan. Pakistan outclassed India as Modi-led India ranked 126, the same as last year, in the happiness index.  Afghanistan stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed. Nordic countries kept their places among the 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden trailing Finland. For the first time since the report was published more than a decade ago, the United States and Germany were not among the 20 happiest nations, coming in 23rd and 24th respectively.

In turn, Costa Rica and Kuwait entered the top 20 at 12 and 13. "In the top 10 countries only the Netherlands and Australia have populations over 15 million. In the whole of the top 20, only Canada and the UK have populations over 30 million." The sharpest decline in happiness since 2006-10 was noted in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Jordan, while the Eastern European countries Serbia, Bulgaria, and Latvia reported the biggest increases. How is happiness ranked? The happiness ranking is based on individuals' self-assessed evaluations of life satisfaction, as well as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.

World’s 20 happiest countries in 2024

1. Finland, 2. Denmark, 3. Iceland, 4. Sweden, 5. Israel, 6. Netherlands, 7. Norway, 8. Luxembourg, 9. Switzerland, 10. Australia, 11. New Zealand, 12. Costa Rica, 13. Kuwait, 14. Austria, 15. Canada, 16. Belgium, 17. Ireland, 18. Czechia, 19. Lithuania & 20. United Kingdom.

The United States drops out of the top 20

The United States (No. 23) and Germany (No. 24) dropped out of the top 20 in part because of a rise in happiness among other countries — especially Czechia (No. 18), Lithuania (No. 19) and Slovenia (No. 21). The United Kingdom was No. 20. While Lithuania ranked 19th this year on the overall list, among respondents under 30, it was the No. 1 happiest country in 2024. For those over 60, Lithuania came in at No. 44. In the United States and Canada, happiness scores from people under 30 were dramatically lower than those from people age 60 and older. Among people under 30, the US ranked at No. 62, while for those 60 and older, it was No. 10. Canada was No. 58 among the young and No. 8 for those 60 and older. Australia and New Zealand, to a lesser extent, also saw much lower rankings among the young.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)