The report looks at several aspects in order to rank the countries. They include healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support, low corruption, generosity and freedom to make key life choices.
John Helliwell, one of the authors of the report, explained to CNN what we could learn from Finland.
“Is it, are they doing things that we wish we’d seen before and we can start doing? Or is it something unique about their climate and history that makes them different? And fortunately, at least from my perspective, the answer is the former.”
The report also found that ‘benevolence’ is roughly 25% higher than it was pre-pandemic.
“Benevolence to others, especially the helping of strangers, which went up dramatically in 2021, stayed high in 2022.”
“Even during these difficult years, positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness.”
Helliwell speculates that the changes and disarray that the last few years have brought upon the world have forced people to reflect and change their perspective on life.
“People are rethinking their life objectives. They’re saying, ‘I’m going back, but what am I going back to? What do I want to go back to? How do I want to spend the rest of my life?’”
World’s 20 Happiest Countries in 2023
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Luxemborg
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Australia
- Canada
- Ireland
- United States
- Germany
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- United Kingdom
- Lithuania
