The newly-released World Happiness Report has some interesting details.
With the constant barrage of heartbreaking news from across the world, it's hard to stay positive in these trying times. The world definitely seems more on edge than ever before, perhaps because people have access to a lot more information in today's digital world. But there is a bit of good news. According to CNN, benevolence is rising globally. Let's take a look at the findings of the newly released World Happiness Report, a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network that draws on global survey data from people in about 150 countries.
10 Happiest Countries in the World in 2022 https://t.co/9NGjFrc41K
— Autism World Travel (@autismworldtrv) March 24, 2022
You might think that money, sunlight, and warm weather might be contributing factors to making a country and its people happy. But according to the results, it turns out that the happiest people in the world actually live in cold temperatures, swim in icy waters, and pay high taxes! The Nordic countries are once again occupying the top spots of the report. Finland is the world's happiest country, according to the World Happiness Report rankings, based largely on life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll and several other factors, including levels of GDP, life expectancy, and more.
For the fifth 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.
— Nightwish Greek Fan Page (@NightwishGreece) March 28, 2022
The world's happiest countries for 2022: https://t.co/Xi1kvVx9vG via @CNNTravel
Finland has won the title for the fifth year in a row. The Nordic country and its neighbors Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland have done well according to the report. There are two newcomers in this year's top 10 list—Israel and Luxembourg. Who's been knocked out? Austria and Germany fell to numbers 11 and 14, respectively.
Finland has been named the happiest country in the world, with Denmark second, followed by Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands #Happiness #Wellbeing https://t.co/ZYIuRqY0Cp
— The Evidence-Based Investor (@RobinJPowell) March 25, 2022
Marking its 10th anniversary, the report has some other interesting finds. "The big surprise was that globally, in an uncoordinated way, there have been very large increases in all the three forms of benevolence that are asked about in the Gallup World Poll," John Helliwell, one of the report's three founding editors, told CNN Travel. Kind gestures like donating to charity, helping a stranger, and volunteering are all up, "especially the help to strangers in 2021, relative to either before the pandemic or 2020, by a very large amount in all regions of the world," said Helliwell, who is a professor emeritus at the Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia. And benevolence is certainly top of mind as the world responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It looks like, despite difficult times, people are realizing the importance of helping others and staying happy more than ever now.
Here's the list of the world's happiest countries, 2022:
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Switzerland
5. Netherlands
6. Luxembourg
7. Sweden
8. Norway
9. Israel
10. New Zealand
11. Austria
12. Australia
13. Ireland
14. Germany
15. Canada
16. United States
17. United Kingdom
18. Czechia (Czech Republic)
19. Belgium
20. France
References:
https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/happiest-countries-in-the-world
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-happiest-countries-2022-wellness/index.html
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Lingxiao Xi
