To live happily, live in Finland. The Nordic country won this Monday, March 20 the place of the happiest country in the world in an annual index sponsored by the UN. This is the 6th time in a row that Finland has won first place.
THE world happiness report is a measure of happiness published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network every year since 2012. This report on happiness in the world is based on people’s rating of their happiness, as well as data economic and social. The report considers six key factors: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and freedom from corruption. It assigns a satisfaction score based on an average of data over a three-year period.
The teams in charge of this report underline that it is a question of reviewing “the state of happiness in the world today” and of showing how a “science of happiness” can explain “the personal and national variations of happiness” observed in different countries. “There is a growing consensus on how happiness should be measured. This consensus means that national happiness can now become an operational goal for governments,” specify the authors.
As TF1 recallsin partnership with researchers from multiple universities, the UN teams rely on data provided by the Gallup World Poll, a series of polls carried out by the American company Gallup, which specializes in strategy consulting and surveys of opinion.
A sharp rise in kindness in Ukraine
This year, Northern Europe once again dominated the top spots, with Denmark ranked second behind Finland, followed by Iceland. Fourth position went to Israel, up five places from last year.
In Ukraine, despite the “extensive suffering and damage” after the Russian invasion in 2022, there is “a much stronger sense of common purpose, kindness and trust in Ukrainian leadership” than in the aftermath of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, one of the report’s writers, was quoted in a statement as saying. In 2022, “kindness rose sharply in Ukraine but fell in Russia,” he found, referring to acts like helping a stranger or making a donation.
While Ukraine’s ranking has fallen from 98 to 92 since the previous year’s report – which was completed before the Russian invasion – its overall score has fallen from 5.084 to 5.071, on a scale of zero to 10. .
Afghanistan in last place
Year after year, the same countries largely top the list. This year, the authors of the report identified the Baltic countries as progressing rapidly towards Western European levels. The only new country among the 20 countries on the happiest list, Lithuania moved up to 20th – leaving France at 21st – while Estonia’s ranking fell from 66th in 2017 to 31st in 2023.
Despite the Ukraine and Covid-19 crises, “various forms of everyday kindness, such as helping a stranger, donating to charity and volunteering, are above pre-pandemic levels” around the world for the second consecutive year, said Professor Lara Aknin, another author of the report.
Afghanistan scarred by decades of war, which has been last on the annual index since 2020, has seen its humanitarian crisis worsen since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 following the withdrawal of troops led by the Taliban. UNITED STATES.