About World Happiness Index:
- It is an annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
- The rankings are based on people’s self-assessed life evaluations.
- The World Happiness Index 2025 ranked countries according to self-assessed life evaluations averaged over 2022-2024 and answers to the Cantril ladder question in the Gallup World Poll.
- It asks respondents to think of a ladder with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst being a zero.
- They are then asked to rate their current lives on that scale.
- The study considers 6 explanatory factors for happiness: social support, GDP per capita, health life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and perception of corruption.
- The study also maps whether responses indicated positive or negative emotions about the country.
- Highlights of World Happiness Index 2025:
- Finland is ranked as the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, and other Nordic countries – Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden, continued to remain in the top four, in that order.
- The United Kingdom is in the 23rd position, the US is 24th, and China stands at the 68th position in the list of 147 countries this year.
- While Western countries dominated the top 20, especially European nations, Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at 6th and 10th respectively.
- Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world; this year 147th against last year's 143rd rank (last).
- The State of Palestine is ranked 108th (103 in 2024), while Ukraine is at 111 rank (105 in 2024).
- India ranked 118 out of 147 countries.
- Among India's neighbouring countries, Sri Lanka was ranked at 133, Bangladesh at 134, Pakistan at 109, Nepal at 92, and China at 68.
