Finns at the top

World Happiness Report: Austria slips 3 places

Austria slipped from eleventh to 14th place in the ranking.(Bild: Arcady - stock.adobe.com)

For the seventh time in a row, Finland is the country with the happiest population in the world. Austria slipped from eleventh to 14th place. 

In the World Happiness Report, scientists looked at the period between 2021 and 2023, evaluating subjective assessments of the lives of the population living in the country.

Finland, Denmark and Iceland in the top 3
The results show that countries from the north once again occupy the top spots this year. Finland was followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Israel.

The top 30 of the World Happiness Report:

(Bild: worldhappiness.report)

In the listing, the largest countries are no longer among the happiest 20 - the USA also saw a downward trend: 23rd place instead of the most recent 15th place. In total, the ranking includes 143 countries.

Afghanistan brings up the rear
Global inequality in happiness has increased by more than 20 percent in all regions and age groups over the past twelve years. According to the World Happiness Report, the unhappiest country is Afghanistan. There is a difference of around six points on the average happiness scale of zero to ten between Finland (7.7) and Afghanistan (1.7), the country with the happiest people.

Does a sauna increase happiness? The fact is that the Finnish sauna is an essential part of Finnish and Estonian culture.(Bild: Suzi Media - stock.adobe.com)

What do the Finns do differently from other peoples?
According to the World Happiness Report, factors such as social support, income, freedom and the absence of corruption play a major role. People in Scandinavian countries would rate their own lives very highly on these points.