Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025, which was published on March 20, in sync with International Day of Happiness.
Country rankings were based on people's answers when asked to rate their own lives. The study was conducted in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Other Nordic countries are also, once again, at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order as last year.
But why is Finland the happiest country in the world? The official tourism board of the country credits this easy access to clean air, pure water and walks around in the woods. The country also credits safe public services and spaces, the magic of the Northern lights and the midnight sun, over 3 million saunas for relaxation, the chance to connect with nature, and friendly locals, amongst other things.
While India made a slight improvement in its happiness quotient, it has still not made it to the top 100. According to the rankings, India stood at 118 among 147 countries, up from 126 last year. Surprisingly, even the war-torn nation of Ukraine (111) fared better than India.
The report, which focuses on the impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness, also finds people in Pakistan are happier than India. Even though cash-strapped Pakistan's rank dropped from 108 to 109, the country outscored India.
Despite India placing 118th overall, in terms of the rankings for six measures of benevolence, it was listed much higher at 57 for how people donated, 10 for how people volunteered, 74 for helping a stranger, and 115 for the case of a wallet returned by a neighbour.
Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said.
Believing in the kindness of others is also more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings. As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population.
Overall, researchers said that global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality—actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect.
While European countries dominate the top 20 in the ranking, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel came in at eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at sixth and 10th respectively.
When it comes to decreasing happiness—or growing unhappiness—the United States of America has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States of America has increased 53 per cent over the past two decades.
Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world (147), with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking third from the bottom.
(With inputs from news sources)