World Happiness Report findings: How happy is your country?

Playing in the snow. Finland comes out top in happiness.
Credit: CroMary – Shutterstock

The 2025 World Happiness Report, has just been published, and once again Finland tops the charts for the eighth year running for being the happiest nationality in the world. Find out where your country comes in the happiness ranking.

Compiled by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup, the annual study ranks over 130 countries based on their self-assessed life evaluations averaged from 2022 to 2024.

Respondents rate the quality of their lives on the Cantril ladder scale, in which they imagine a ladder where 10 represents the best possible life and 0 the worst. The report also evaluates six key variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and freedom from corruption.

Finland’s top rating, alongside other Nordic nations, is no surprise to Ilana Ron Levey, managing director of Gallup. ‘Finland is an extraordinary outlier,’ she says, attributing the country’s success to trust in institutions, optimism, strong social bonds, and lower well-being inequality compared to nations like the United States.

How happy is your country? Check the listings below.

Denmark (No. 2), Iceland (No. 3), Sweden (No. 4), and Norway (No. 7) also scored top 10 spots, demonstrating the region’s reputation for stability and support systems. Newcomers Costa Rica (No. 6) and Mexico (No. 10) joined the ranks, proving wealth isn’t the sole driver of happiness when basic needs are met. The Netherlands (No. 5), Israel (No. 8), and Luxembourg (No. 9) finished off the list.

Ron Levey highlights Finland’s lesson in benevolence. He says, ‘Good deeds boost the happiness of the giver, not just the recipient.’ Denmark, as well, stands out with its social safety net, such as free healthcare, subsidised childcare, and tuition-free universities, despite high taxes. Meanwhile, the US slipped a position to 24 from 23, partly due to young adults feeling less supported and optimistic, with rising isolation reflected in a 53 percent increase in solo dining since 2003.

At the bottom, the least happy, the report identifies Afghanistan, Syria, and South Sudan as among the least happy, plagued by conflict, poverty, and instability. The 2025 findings show that happiness balances largely on trust, relationships, and generosity, and not necessarily on just economic power. As Ron Levey puts it, ‘Wealth is insufficient without strong life evaluation.’

How does your country fare on the World Happiness Report?