World Happiness Report 2017: Who's Happy and Who Isn't?
March 21, 2017
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Norway jumped three spots and displaced three-time winner Denmark to take the title of "world's happiest country" for 2017.
Denmark dropped to second place this year, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and Sweden (which tied for ninth place), according to the latest World Happiness Report, by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations.
Denmark has won the title three of the four times the report has been issued, while Switzerland has won the title just once.
The United States came in 14th place, dropping one place from last year.
Other superpowers didn't fare better than Northern Europe either.
Germany came in 16th place for the second year, while the United Kingdom moved up four spots to 19th place and Russia moved up seven spots to 49th place. Japan moved up two spots to 51st place, while China moved up four spots to 79th place.
People in the Central African Republic are unhappiest with their lives, according to the survey of 155 countries, followed by Burundi (154), Tanzania (153), Syria (152) and Rwanda (151).
The report was based on year-long survey of 1,000 people in more than 150 countries around the world. The questionnaire simply asked them to rank their living conditions on a scale of zero to 10. Leading experts and researchers from various fields corroborate these results using six basic determinants of happiness which are gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy, support from relatives or friends, charitable giving, freedom to make life choices, and perceived levels of government and corporate corruption. The report also focussed on other factors like happiness at work, metal illnesses. The final rankings are calculated using the average of three years of surveys.
