Name: The World's Happiest Countries for 2023
Uploaded: 2023-03-21T20:32:52.000Z
Description: There's cause for optimism in the latest report on world happiness.

Dave Martin is NTD's Senior Sports Reporter and sports analyst. He also hosts "Data Hub" segments during NTD's special election coverage, "The Nation Decides."

Dave Martin

NTD Plus

News

News with integrity, from the United States and around the world. Focused reports and analyses that shed light on major issues the world deserves to know. NTD Evening News airs daily at 6 p.m. ET.

NTD Evening News

19-Year Old Andreeva Wins French Open, Youngest Since 1992

Mari Otsu is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. 

Mari Otsu

Moms Across America Founder Zen Honeycutt on GMO Safety, Glyphosate Concerns, and the MAHA Movement

Daniel Monaghan is a reporter for NTD News covering culture, social issues, and education. He holds a BA in Political Science and Government.

Daniel Monaghan

White House Week in Review (June 6): US Brokers Israel–Lebanon Ceasefire

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

Hegseth Honors D-Day Veterans in France

Rudy Blalock is a Southern California-based daily news reporter for NTD. Originally from Michigan, he moved to California in 2017 and the sunshine and ocean have kept him here since. In his free time, he may be found underwater scuba diving, on top of a mountain hiking or snowboarding, or at home meditating—which helps fuel his active lifestyle.

Rudy Blalock

World News

Asia &amp; Pacific

Missing US Student Found Dead in Japan, Family Says

Jason Perry is an Army veteran and NTD's national security correspondent. Jason primarily covers border security, national defense, foreign wars, and veterans' issues.

Jason Perry

Anthropic: Humans Could Soon Lose Control Over AI

David Lam is a national correspondent based in California and a part-time anchor for "NTD Tonight." Before joining NTD he was a financial analyst.

David Lam

California Prepares to Host FIFA World Cup Matches

Sam Wang is a Washington correspondent for NTD News based in Washington, D.C. Sam covers politics on Capitol Hill, and U.S.-China relations. 

Sam Wang

Citizens Weigh Newly Painted Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Cary Dunst is the news anchor for NTD Evening News. He is also the co-host of NTD Good Morning.


Cary Dunst

D-day Was ‘The Most Complex Mission in Modern Military History’: Retired Navy SEAL

Jason Blair is a national correspondent for NTD News based in California. 

Jason Blair

48 Charged in Texas Over Major Drug Trafficking Operation

Arleen Richards is NTD's legal correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers all major legal stories. Arleen holds a Doctor of Law (J.D.).


Arleen Richards

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (June 6)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (June 5)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (June 4)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (June 3)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (June 2)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (June 1)

Chris Beers is an NTD News anchor and political correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Chris co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.

Chris Beers

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 31)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 29)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 28)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 27)

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

US News

State News

California

More Than 17,000 Under Evacuation Orders as Southern California Wildfire Threatens Homes

40,000 Ordered to Evacuate as Chemical Tank Leaks, Threatens Explosion in California

Video of US Fighter Jet Shooting Down UFO Over Lake Huron Emerges in New Pentagon Files

Mary Man is a writer for NTD. She has traveled around the world covering China, international news, and arts and culture.

Mary Man

China News

Epoch Times Obtains Over 2,000 Unseen Tiananmen Square Photos on 37th Anniversary of the June 4th Massacre

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

US Government Sues Chick-fil-A Over Religious Rights

Sports News

Kyle Busch, Two-Time NASCAR Champion, Dies at 41

Haika Mrema

Medical Plane Crash in New Mexico Mountains Kills 4, Sparks Wildfire

US Embassy in Israel Issues Travel Alert for Much of Middle East

California Mayor Resigns, Will Plead Guilty to Acting as Chinese Agent

Jill McLaughlin is an award-winning journalist covering politics, environment, and statewide issues. She has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico. Jill was born in Yosemite National Park and enjoys the majestic outdoors, traveling, golfing, and hiking.

Jill McLaughlin

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

Scott Pelley Fired by ’60 Minutes’ After Clash With Management

There's cause for optimism in the latest report on world happiness.

For one, benevolence is about 25 percent higher than it was pre-pandemic.

"Benevolence to others, especially the helping of strangers, which went up dramatically in 2021, stayed high in 2022," John Helliwell, one of the authors of the World Happiness Report, said in an interview with CNN.

And global happiness has not taken a hit in the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life evaluations from 2020–2022 have been "remarkably resilient," the report says, with global averages basically in line with the three years preceding the pandemic.

"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 said in a news release.

The report, which is a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, draws on global survey data from people in more than 150 countries. Countries are ranked on happiness based on their average life evaluations over the three preceding years, in this case, 2020–2022.

The report, which was released on Monday, identifies the happiest nations, those at the very bottom of the happiness scale, and everything in between, plus the factors that tend to lead to greater happiness. March 20 is the International Day of Happiness, a day designated by the United Nations that's marking its 10th anniversary in 2023.
<h2>6-Year Winning Streak for the World's Happiest Nation</h2>
For the sixth year in a row, Finland is the world's happiest country, according to World Happiness Report rankings based largely on life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll.

The Nordic country and its neighbors Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway all score very well on the measures the report uses to explain its findings: healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support, low corruption, generosity in a community where people look after each other and freedom to make key life decisions.

The City Hall Square in Copenhagen on July 1, 2022. (Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

But since we can't all move to Finland, is there something other societies can learn from these rankings?

"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 make them different? And fortunately, at least from my perspective, the answer is the former," said Helliwell, who is a professor emeritus at the Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia.

Taking a holistic view of the well-being of all the components of a society and its members makes for better life evaluations and happier countries.

"The objective of every institution should be to contribute what it can to human well-being," the report says, which includes accounting for future generations and preserving basic human rights.

Israel moves up to No. 4 this year from its No. 9 ranking last year. The Netherlands (No. 5), Switzerland (No. 8), Luxembourg (No. 9), and New Zealand (No. 10) round out the top 10.

Australia (No. 12), Canada (No. 13), Ireland (No. 14), the United States (No. 15), and the United Kingdom (No. 19) all made it into the top 20.

While the same countries tend to appear in the top 20 years after year, there's a new entrant this year: Lithuania.

The Baltic nation has been climbing steadily over the past six years from No. 52 in 2017 to No. 20 on the latest list. And the other Baltic countries, Estonia (No. 31) and Latvia (No. 41), have been climbing in the ranks, too.

"It's essentially the same story that's playing out in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe," Helliwell said.

Countries in those regions "probably have normalized that post-1990 transition and [are] feeling more solid in their new identity" as the years pass, he said.

France dropped out of the top 20 to No. 21 in this year's report.

At the very bottom of the list is Afghanistan at No. 137. Lebanon is one rank above at No. 136. Average life evaluations in these countries are more than five points lower (on a scale from 0–10) than in the 10 happiest countries.
<h2>Looking Forward</h2>
The disruptions of the pandemic have spurred a lot of reflection.

"People are rethinking their life objectives," Helliwell said. "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?'"

He's hoping this "move towards thinking about values and other people more explicitly" will affect not just factors such as which jobs or schools people choose, but also how they operate within those environments.

"It isn't really about the grades or the salary, it's about cooperating with other people in a useful way. And of course, that's useful for the world, but the whole point of this happiness research is that it's also good for the people doing it.

"In other words, you do end up feeling better about yourself if you're actually looking after other people rather than number one."
<h2>World's Happiest Countries for 2023</h2>
1. Finland

<em>The CNN Wire contributed to this report. </em>

Health

happiness

world

Finland

Videos

Life

04_Top Stories

Latest Clips

International

CNN Newsource offers live, breaking and topical content. 

CNN Newsource

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.