Such can be concluded from the latest publication of the World Happiness Report, published March 20 which uses responses from people in more than 140 nations to rank the world’s ‘happiest’ countries.
Rankings are based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life. Interdisciplinary experts from the fields of economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then attempt to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP, life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
Fun-loving Finland tops the overall list for the seventh successive year, though there is considerable movement elsewhere. Serbia (37th) and Bulgaria (81st) have had the biggest increases in average life evaluation scores since they were first measured by the Gallup World Poll in 2013, and this is reflected in climbs up the rankings between World Happiness Report 2013 and this 2024 edition of 69 places for Serbia and 63 places for Bulgaria.
But the country showing the next largest increase in life evaluations is Latvia (46th place) which has risen by 44 places in the rankings between 2013 and 2024.
For the first time, the report also gives separate rankings by age group, in many cases varying widely from the overall rankings. Our Baltic neighbor Lithuania tops the list for children and young people under 30, while Denmark is the world’s happiest nation for those 60 and older. Overall, Lithuania is ranked in 19th place and Estonia is ranked 34th.
