At the end of the day, nothing in life is more important than happiness. If you’re happy, your life is good. Achieving and maintaining happiness can therefore be regarded as the biggest goal in one’s life. Many aspects of such happiness luckily depend on ourselves. They depend on our own actions and the personal life decisions we make. However, sadly there are also factors that are beyond our control which determine the level of happiness we feel in our lives. These factors can be defined by sudden deaths of loved ones, health problems or general problems that are forced on us by external forces or people.
One often underestimated factor of happiness is the surroundings we live in. Not just our closest surroundings, but more broadly the country we live in. Countries can differ greatly in the overall quality of live they provide to their citizens. And the quality of life is obviously a major factor for one’s happiness. As many studies have shown over they years, certain aspects of what a country offers (or doesn’t offer) to their inhabitants significantly correlates with the average level of happiness these citizens feel and experience.
The following ranking lists the currently 10 happiest countries in the world. It is based on the World Happiness Report which in turn is based on the following 6 ranking factors: GDP per capita, Social support level, Healthy life expectancy, Freedom to make life choices, Generosity and Perceptions of corruption. These factors are being measured for (almost) each country in the world and compared to a benchmark of the lowest national averages for each factor. On that basis, a score is being calculated which the ranking is based on.
The higher a country ranks in the ranking, the more happy an average inhabitant of said country can expected to be. Just a heads-up: One continent, and especially one specific region within that continent, is heavily dominating this ranking of the 10 happiest countries in the world…..
The 10 Happiest Countries in the World 2021
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Switzerland
4. Iceland
5. Netherlands
6. Norway
Happiness index score: 7,392
Continent: Europe
Region: Scandinavia
Capital: Oslo
Population: 5.4 million
7. Sweden
8. Luxembourg
9. New Zealand
10. Austria
The 10 Happiest Countries in the World 2021
(based on the World Happiness Report 2021)
| Top 10 Happiest Countries in the World: |
|---|
| 1. FINLAND Happiness index score: 7,842 |
| 2. DENMARK Happiness index score: 7,620 |
| 3. SWITZERLAND Happiness index score: 7,571 |
| 4. ICELAND Happiness index score: 7,554 |
| 5. NETHERLANDS Happiness index score: 7,464 |
| 6. NORWAY Happiness index score: 7,392 |
| 7. SWEDEN Happiness index score: 7,363 |
| 8. LUXEMBOURG Happiness index score: 7,324 |
| 9. NEW ZEALAND Happiness index score: 7,277 |
| 10. AUSTRIA Happiness index score: 7,268 |
Top 10 Happiest Countries in the World based on the 2021 World Happiness Report. The ranking is based on a country’s GDP per capita, social support level, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.