According to the UN World Happiness Report- 2019, released on March 20, 2019 on World Happiness Day, India was ranked at 140th place, seven spots down from last year, on . It means Indians are not so happy as there were last year.
- The list is topped by Finland for the second year in a row and it is the happiest country in the world.
- According to the report, the overall world happiness has fallen over the past few years, which has mostly been fuelled by a sustained drop in India, which came in 140th place this year compared with 133rd place a year ago.
- Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world for the second year in succession which is followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands.
- Pakistan is ranked 67th, Bangladesh 125th and China is place at 93rd.
- The people of South Sudan is the most unhappy with their lives, followed by Central African Republic (155), Afghanistan (154), Tanzania (153) and Rwanda (152).
Who and How
- The Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. This year’s World Happiness Report focuses on happiness and the community: how happiness has evolved over the past dozen years, with a focus on the technologies, social norms, conflicts and government policies that have driven those changes.
- The Happiness report was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations on March 20, which has been designated as the World Happiness Day by the UN General Assembly.
- This is the 7th World Happiness Report. The first was released in April 2012 in support of a UN High level meeting on “Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”.
Parameters
- The World Happiness Report- 2019 ranks countries on six key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity.
- It ranks the countries of the world on the basis of questions from the Gallup World Poll. The results are then correlated with other factors, including GDP and social security.
