Article Title: World Happiness Index
25-03-2025
Social Issues Prelims Plus
Context
• Finland is ranked as the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, and other Nordic countries – Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden, continued to remain in the top four, in that order.
• While Western countries dominated the top 20, especially European nations, Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at 6th and 10th respectively.
• Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world; this year 147th against last year's 143rd rank (last).
• The State of Palestine is ranked 108th (103 in 2024), while Ukraine is at 111 rank (105 in 2024).
• India ranked 118 out of 147 countries.
• Among India's neighbouring countries, Sri Lanka was ranked at 133, Bangladesh at 134,Pakistan at 109, Nepal at 92, and China at 68.
AboutWorld Happiness Index
• It is an annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
• The rankings are based on people’s self-assessed life evaluations.
• It asks respondents to think of a ladder with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst being a zero.
• They are then asked to rate their current lives on that scale.
• The study considers 6 explanatory factors for happiness: social support, GDP per capita, health life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and perception of corruption.
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