The annual World Happiness Report has again ranked Finland and other Scandinavian countries the most cheerful nations on Earth. Costa Rica and Kuwait entered the top 20 in place of the United States and Germany.
Finland has remained the happiest country in the world for the seventh year a row with nordic neighbors Sweden, Denmark and Iceland also retaining their places in the top 10, according to the annual World Happiness Report published on Wednesday.
But rising unhapiness especially among young people has seen other Western countries drop down the UN-sponsored index, with the United States and Germany dropping out of the top 20 for the first time since the report’s first edition more than a decade ago.
Taking their place were Costa Rica and Kuwait at 12 and 13 respectively, while Eastern European countries Serbia, Bulgaria and Latvia reported the biggest increases in happiness.
Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, remained in last place.
I have been living in Botswana for the past two years, and I’m genuinely surprised where it is on this list. Yeah, people here don’t have the greatest deal, but there’s freaking universal healthcare here. The country has been extremely politically stable since independence. There’s no way people are less happy here than those who are in active war zones.
How integrated are you into the local community? How well do you speak the local language? I’m a foreigner living abroad and I would never trust either my own perception of this place nor 99% of other foreigners’ perceptions.
I see your point. I know that there are folks unhappy with the current government, but to be fair, who isn’t? The San have also been pretty fucked over by the government.
Can I ask how you ended up there in the first place? I can scarcely think of a more interesting place on earth.
My wife is finishing up a global health pediatric fellowship. She arrived in 2021, and I came out about a year later because I was finishing up chaplaincy training and I had a contract to finish out for a synagogue I was working for.