FINLAND HAS TOPPED the World Happiness Report for a sixth year running, while Ireland is ranked 14th.

The World Happiness Report was first released in 2012 and is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

SDSN is non-profit organisation that was launched by the United Nations in 2012 to promote the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Its now-annual World Happiness Report uses six metrics to come up with its happiness ranking.

These metrics are GDP per capita, available social supports, life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption levels.

“Generosity” is evaluated by using Gallup World Poll response data to the question, “Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?”, and cross-referencing it in relation to a country’s GDP per capita.

The 2023 report was released today to coincide with International Day of Happiness, a day established 11 years ago by the United Nations General Assembly to help people realise the importance of happiness. 

This year’s World Happiness Report is based on data from 2020 to 2022, and the report’s authors note that this means “all of the observations are drawn from years of high infection and deaths from COVID-19”.

The report also described 2022 as a “year of crises by any standard”, noting the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic, worldwide inflation and climate emergencies.

When ranking the happiness of the world’s nations, the report notes that “lives have been better where trust, benevolence, and supportive social connections have continued to thrive”.

Finland, for the sixth year in a row, came our on top, followed by Denmark.

Iceland was ranked third, followed by Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg and New Zealand.

The next five positions, 11-15, is held by Austria, Australia, Canada, Ireland in 14^th, and the United States.

The rankings mean that Ireland has dropped a place from 13th since the last report in 2022.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom ranks below Ireland in this year’s ranking in 19^th place, as does Germany and Belgium in 16^th and 17^th position respectively.

At the other end of the scale, war-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon remain the two unhappiest countries in the survey, “where almost everyone is very unhappy”.

Both countries also rank someway off Sierra Leona, the third-lowest ranked country, in terms of national happiness.