THE WORLD'S HAPPIEST COUNTRIES

by Francesca Levy

By and large, rich countries are happier - and that's no coincidence

Quantifying happiness isn't an easy task. Researchers at the Gallup World Poll went about it by surveying thousands of respondents in 155 countries, between 2005 and 2009, in order to measure two types of well-being.

First they asked subjects to reflect on their overall satisfaction with their lives, and ranked their answers using a "life evaluation" score from 1 to 10. Then they asked questions about how each subject had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their "daily experiences"--things like whether they felt well-rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged. Subjects that reported high scores were considered "thriving." The percentage of thriving individuals in each country determined our rankings.

Rank	Country	Region	Thriving	Struggling	Suffering	Daily Experience
1	Denmark	Europe	82	17	1	7.9
2	Finland	Europe	75	23	2	7.8
3	Norway	Europe	69	31	0	7.9
4	Sweden	Europe	68	30	2	7.9
4	Netherlands	Europe	68	32	1	7.7
6	Costa Rica	Americas	63	35	2	8.1
6	New Zealand	Asia	63	35	2	7.6
8	Canada	Americas	62	36	2	7.6
8	Israel	Asia	62	35	3	6.4
8	Australia	Asia	62	35	3	7.5
8	Switzerland	Europe	62	36	2	7.6
12	Panama	Americas	58	39	3	8.4
12	Brazil	Americas	58	40	2	7.5
14	United States	Americas	57	40	3	7.3
14	Austria	Europe	57	40	3	7.7
16	Belgium	Europe	56	41	3	7.3
17	United Kingdom	Europe	54	44	2	7.4
18	Mexico	Americas	52	43	5	7.7
18	Turkmenistan	Asia	52	47	1	7.5
20	United Arab Emirates	Asia	51	48	1	7.7
21	Venezuela	Americas	50	48	2	8.0
22	Ireland	Europe	49	49	2	7.5
23	Puerto Rico	Americas	47	45	8	7.6
23	Kuwait	Asia	47	50	3	7.0
23	Iceland	Europe	47	49	4	8.2
26	Colombia	Americas	46	47	7	7.7
26	Jamaica	Americas	46	49	5	7.7
28	Cyprus	Asia	45	50	5	6.6
28	Luxembourg	Europe	45	54	1	7.3
30	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	44	51	5	7.9
30	Argentina	Americas	44	50	6	7.8
30	Belize	Americas	44	50	6	6.8
33	Germany	Europe	43	50	7	7.4
34	El Salvador	Americas	42	51	7	7.7
35	Chile	Americas	41	52	7	7.3
35	Uruguay	Americas	41	54	5	7.5
35	Qatar	Asia	41	58	1	6.8
38	Guatemala	Americas	40	50	10	7.7
38	Malta	Europe	40	48	12	6.6
40	Czech Republic	Europe	39	51	9	6.6
40	Italy	Europe	39	54	7	7.1
42	Honduras	Americas	37	49	14	7.5
43	Spain	Europe	36	58	6	7.0
44	Dominican Republic	Americas	35	54	11	7.3
44	France	Europe	35	60	6	7.0
46	Bolivia	Americas	34	59	7	7.0
46	Ecuador	Americas	34	52	15	7.6
48	Paraguay	Americas	32	59	9	8.3
48	Bahrain	Asia	32	45	23	7.0
50	Guyana	Americas	31	64	5	7.0
50	Greece	Europe	31	57	11	7.0
52	Nicaragua	Americas	30	53	17	7.4
52	Jordan	Asia	30	61	8	6.7
54	Belarus	Europe	29	59	12	6.5
54	Kosovo	Europe	29	65	6	6.2
56	South Korea	Asia	28	61	12	6.9
56	Poland	Europe	28	61	10	7.1
58	Saudi Arabia	Asia	27	69	3	6.7
58	Pakistan	Asia	27	50	23	6.2
58	Slovenia	Europe	27	57	16	6.8
61	Croatia	Europe	26	60	14	6.2
61	Montenegro	Europe	26	58	16	6.2
63	Malawi	Africa	25	64	10	8.0
63	Peru	Americas	25	65	11	7.2
63	Moldova	Europe	25	62	13	6.1
63	Lithuania	Europe	25	57	18	6.2
67	Libya*	Africa	24	68	8	6.0
67	Botswana	Africa	24	65	11	7.3
67	Cuba*	Americas	24	66	11	6.7
70	Kazakhstan	Asia	22	72	6	7.2
70	Taiwan	Asia	22	64	14	7.5
70	Portugal	Europe	22	61	17	7.1
73	South Africa	Africa	21	71	8	7.3
73	Lebanon	Asia	21	64	15	6.3
73	Russia	Europe	21	57	22	7.0
73	Ukraine	Europe	21	53	26	6.6
73	Romania	Europe	21	56	23	6.6
73	Slovakia	Europe	21	60	19	6.5
79	Thailand	Asia	20	75	5	8.0
79	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	20	59	20	6.2
81	Iran	Asia	19	66	14	6.3
81	Hong Kong	Asia	19	65	16	7.1
81	Singapore	Asia	19	75	6	6.9
81	Japan	Asia	19	69	12	7.4
85	Somaliland	Africa	18	77	5	7.1
85	Algeria	Africa	18	77	6	6.7
85	Nigeria	Africa	18	78	4	7.3
85	Uzbekistan	Asia	18	75	6	7.8
85	Indonesia	Asia	18	72	10	8.2
90	Estonia	Europe	17	62	21	6.8
91	Myanmar*	Asia	16	82	2	7.1
91	Bangladesh	Asia	16	71	13	6.9
91	Serbia	Europe	16	63	21	6.2
94	Malaysia	Asia	15	80	5	8.1
94	Philippines	Asia	15	68	18	7.2
96	Cameroon	Africa	14	77	9	7.0
96	Tunisia	Africa	14	77	9	6.8
96	Zambia	Africa	14	78	8	7.6
96	Yemen	Asia	14	62	24	6.3
96	Vietnam	Asia	14	76	10	6.9
96	Palestinian Territories	Asia	14	70	15	5.8
96	Macedonia	Europe	14	54	32	6.8
103	Turkey	Asia	13	67	20	6.0
103	Kyrgyzstan	Asia	13	81	7	7.3
103	Azerbaijan	Asia	13	70	17	6.6
103	Hungary	Europe	13	53	34	6.9
103	Albania	Europe	13	67	19	5.6
108	Central African Republic	Africa	12	75	13	6.4
108	Ethiopia	Africa	12	67	21	6.4
110	Namibia	Africa	11	79	10	8.1
110	Angola	Africa	11	81	8	6.8
110	Armenia	Asia	11	55	33	5.9
110	Iraq	Asia	11	71	18	5.2
110	Latvia	Europe	11	64	25	6.5
115	Mozambique	Africa	10	78	11	7.2
115	Egypt	Africa	10	71	19	6.1
115	Mauritania	Africa	10	83	7	7.2
115	Zimbabwe	Africa	10	73	17	7.3
115	Morocco	Africa	10	80	10	7.0
115	Sri Lanka	Asia	10	66	24	6.9
115	India	Asia	10	69	21	6.9
115	Syria	Asia	10	66	24	6.8
115	Georgia	Asia	10	56	35	6.2
115	Afghanistan	Asia	10	69	21	6.2
125	Kenya	Africa	9	78	13	7.5
125	Ghana	Africa	9	83	8	7.5
125	China	Asia	9	77	14	7.6
128	Congo (Brazzaville)	Africa	8	73	20	6.9
128	Guinea	Africa	8	89	3	7.1
130	Sudan	Africa	7	81	12	7.4
130	Djibouti	Africa	7	86	8	7.5
130	Madagascar	Africa	7	84	10	7.0
130	Nepal	Asia	7	82	11	7.4
130	Mongolia	Asia	7	81	12	7.0
130	Laos	Asia	7	89	4	7.1
130	Tajikistan	Asia	7	74	19	6.5
137	Uganda	Africa	6	71	23	6.8
137	Tanzania	Africa	6	70	24	7.5
137	Senegal	Africa	6	88	6	7.3
137	Bulgaria	Europe	6	58	36	6.5
141	Chad	Africa	5	88	7	7.1
141	Liberia	Africa	5	90	5	6.7
141	Mali	Africa	5	77	18	8.0
144	Ivory Coast	Africa	4	84	12	7.2
144	Congo (Kinshasa)	Africa	4	85	11	6.4
144	Benin	Africa	4	80	16	6.7
144	Haiti	Americas	4	60	35	6.2
148	Niger	Africa	3	86	11	7.9
148	Rwanda	Africa	3	75	22	7.8
148	Burkina Faso	Africa	3	71	26	6.5
148	Sierra Leone	Africa	3	74	23	6.3
148	Cambodia	Asia	3	75	22	7.6
153	Comoros	Africa	2	75	23	7.7
153	Burundi	Africa	2	58	40	7.5
155	Togo	Africa	1	67	31	5.0

In the wake of their World Cup loss, residents of the Netherlands may be feeling depressed. But there's reason to believe they won't be done in by the agony of defeat: According to a recent poll, the country is one of the happiest in the world.

Championship-winning Spain, on the other hand, was swept with euphoria and national pride, but that may have been an unfamiliar feeling. The country ranks No. 17 of 21 European countries in terms of happiness.

The fact is good times probably have more to do with the size of your wallet than the size of your trophy shelf. The five happiest countries in the world--Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands--are all clustered in the same region, and all enjoy high levels of prosperity.

"The Scandinavian countries do really well," says Jim Harter, a chief scientist at Gallup, which developed the poll. "One theory why is that they have their basic needs taken care of to a higher degree than other countries. When we look at all the data, those basic needs explain the relationship between income and well-being."

Behind the Numbers

Quantifying happiness isn't an easy task. Researchers at the Gallup World Poll went about it by surveying thousands of respondents in 155 countries, between 2005 and 2009, in order to measure two types of well-being.

First they asked subjects to reflect on their overall satisfaction with their lives, and ranked their answers using a "life evaluation" score between 1 and 10. Then they asked questions about how each subject had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their "daily experiences"--things like whether they felt well-rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged.

Subjects that reported high scores were considered "thriving." The percentage of thriving individuals in each country determined our rankings. For a complete list of countries surveyed, including the percentages thriving and their daily happiness scores, click here.

Money Matters

The Gallup researchers found evidence of what many have long suspected: money does buy happiness--at least a certain kind of it. In a related report, they studied the reasons why countries with high gross domestic products won out for well-being, and found an association between life satisfaction and income.

Courtesy: Forbes.com