These are the world’s happiest countries

The World Happiness Report is out, and once again Nordic countries are humming along with the highest scores. Finland has held onto its top ranking for seven years straight.

This year’s report is the first to include separate rankings by age group, and it brings bad news about life satisfaction among young people in some parts of the world.

Happiness has dropped so sharply among the young in North America that young people there are now less happy than the old. Those low scores helped push the United States out of the top 20 on the overall list for the first time since the report was first published in 2012.

The report, published March 20, the United Nations International Day of Happiness, draws on global survey data from people in more than 140 countries. Countries are ranked on happiness based on their average life evaluations over the three preceding years, in this case 2021 to 2023. The report is a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Center, the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an editorial board.

The cool-weather nation of Finland — where the northern lights dance in winter and the summer sun can shine all night long — has a lot figured out when it comes to the right social conditions for happiness.

The survey asks each participant to score their life as a whole, considering what they value, said John Helliwell, emeritus professor of economics at the Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, Canada, and a founding editor of the report.

“And you find out Finland’s pretty rich in all of those things, like wallets being returned if they’re dropped in the street, people helping each other day in and day out, very high quality and universally distributed health and education opportunities — so everyone more or less comes out of the starting gate the same,” he said. He also noted that Finland has happy immigrants too, “so it’s something that they’re prepared to share with newcomers.”

The report looks at six key variables to help explain life evaluations: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption. Finland’s Nordic neighbors also earned reliably high scores with Denmark (No. 2), Iceland (No. 3) and Sweden (No. 4) in the top five, and Norway (No. 7) ranking in the top 10.

Given the war with Hamas, Israel may come as a surprise at No. 5, although the country has been in the top 10 since 2022. The report’s authors point out that its rankings are based on a three-year average, which often mutes the effect of “cataclysmic events happening during a particular year.”

The Netherlands (No. 6), Luxembourg (No. 8), Switzerland (No. 9) and Australia (No. 10) round out the top 10.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【减弱】jiǎnruò mute, make less loud or visible

【灾难性的】zāinànxìng de cataclysmic, causing a lot of destruction, or a sudden, violent change

《世界幸福报告》新鲜出炉，北欧再次成为赢家，其中芬兰已连续七年稳居榜首。

今年的报告首次按被调查人的年龄组进行了单独排名，结果发现有些地区年轻人生活满意度不高。

北美年轻人的幸福感急剧下降，甚至比老年人还低。他们打出的低分让美国首次跌出总榜单的前20名。该报告2012年首次发布。

报告于3月20日联合国国际幸福日发布，由盖洛普、牛津幸福研究中心、联合国可持续发展解决方案网络和一个编辑委员会合作完成，采用了来自140多个国家的调查数据。报告基于各国居民此前三年（即2021至2023年）对生活满意度的平均评价给出了幸福感排名。

芬兰是一个气候凉爽的国家，冬季北极光熠熠生辉，夏季阳光彻夜普照大地，在创造宜居的社会条件以促进幸福感方面，该国可谓颇有心得。

加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚大学温哥华经济学院名誉经济学教授、该报告的创始编辑约翰•赫利韦尔说，这项调查要求每位参与者基于自己的评价体系给个人生活打一个总体分。

他说：“芬兰在所有方面都表现优异，比如钱包掉在街上会有人捡起来还给你；人们日复一日地互相帮助；人人有机会享受优质的医疗和教育资源。因此每个人的起跑线都差不多。”

他还指出，芬兰的移民也很快乐。“因为他们乐意和新移民共享资源。”

该报告通过六个关键变量来评价生活满意度：人均国内生产总值、社会保障、预期健康寿命、自由、慷慨和对腐败的看法。

芬兰的北欧邻国也一如既往出现在榜单前列，丹麦、冰岛和瑞典分别包揽第2、3、4名，挪威排名第7。

鉴于与哈马斯的战争，以色列排名第5让人颇感意外，尽管该国自2022年以来一直位列前10。作者指出，报告排名是基于三年的平均值，削弱了“某一年发生灾难性事件”的影响。

进入前10的国家还有荷兰（第6位）、卢森堡（第8位）、瑞士（第9位）和澳大利亚（第10位）。

(chinadaily.com.cn)