Happiest country

According to a survey of citizens from 147 nations by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the World Happiness Report’s Editorial Board published in March 2025, the happiest country in the world is Finland. The 2025 survey, based largely on three-year average figures taken from 2022 to 2024, with around 1,000 responses gathered annually, looked at factors such as quality and quantity of life, social support and personal liberty to allocate a rating for each nation, ranging between 0 and 10. Finland's final score was 7.736, putting its populace's satisfaction level just ahead of Denmark (7.521) and Iceland (7.515).

It was the eighth consecutive year in which Finland has been ranked the happiest country by the report.

This was the 13th World Happiness Report, released to mark the UN’s International Day of Happiness on 20 March. The results underlined that “Happiness is rooted in trust, kindness and social connection,” stated Jeffrey D Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

In the 2025 iteration, the Top 10 were as follows:

1. Finland (7.736)

2. Denmark (7.521)

3. Iceland (7.515)

4. Sweden (7.345)

5. Netherlands (7.306)

6. Costa Rica (7.274)

7. Norway (7.262)

8. Israel (7.234)

9. Luxembourg (7.122)

10. Mexico (6.979)

At the other end of the scale was Afghanistan, with a score of just 1.364.