Where the happiest people live: The UN has published a ranking of the happiest countries. Study: Denmark is the happiest country in the world The unhappiest countries in the world

Illustration copyright Getty Image caption The Danes turned out to be the happiest people in the world

According to a UN study, Denmark is the happiest country in the world.

This is the fourth study on the level of happiness and life satisfaction in different countries ah peace.

One of his main findings from the current World Happiness Report is that countries with less social inequality tend to be happier.

The top five, in addition to Denmark, includes Switzerland. Iceland, Norway and Finland. All of these countries have well-developed social security systems.

The USA in this list is in 13th place, the UK is in 23rd place, China is in 83rd place, Ukraine is in 123rd place.

Burundi closes the list of 156 countries, where mass unrest continues periodically. It was ranked even lower than Syria, where more than 250 thousand people have died in the civil war over the past five years.

Study finds Syrians expect longer duration healthy life and are more generous than the residents of Burundi, as well as Togo, Afghanistan and Benin - the countries that complete the list.

Overall, the happiest regions are North America, Latin America, Caribbean and Europe.

South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were the only regions to score below five out of ten well-being scores.

Happiness inequality

Report compiled by the Problem Solutions Network sustainable development UN (SDSN) is an analysis of surveys of thousands of people in each country, conducted annually by Gallup. The respondents were asked to rate their lives on a ten-point scale.

Researchers have identified six main categories that determine the level of well-being: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, personal freedoms, participation in charity and perceptions of the level of corruption.

The study found that people generally live happier lives in societies where there is less inequality in the distribution of happiness.

The greater the gap in happiness between different groups population, however, society as a whole is happy.

The study authors also took into account the level of social support, which was defined as the ability to count on someone for support. difficult times. Another important factor is the level of corruption in society, as it appears to survey participants.

“Human well-being should be developed through a holistic approach that combines economic, social and environmental goals,” Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, said in an SDSN press release.

“Instead of narrowly focusing on economic growth, we should stimulate growth that is prosperous, equitable and environmentally sustainable,” the scientist argues.

The top ten happiest countries in the world have not changed, although some have changed places. In particular, Switzerland lost first place to Denmark.

20 happiest countries:

1. Denmark 2. Switzerland 3. Iceland 4. Norway 5. Finland 6. Canada 7. Netherlands 8. New Zealand 9. Australia 10. Sweden 11. Israel 12. Austria 13. USA 14. Costa Rica 15. Puerto Rico 16. Germany 17. Brazil 18. Belgium 19. Ireland 20. Luxembourg

), which assessed the happiness of residents of 156 countries and the happiness of immigrants in 117 countries. Special attention This year's report focused on migration within and between countries.

Source: facebook.com/HappinessRPT/

The happiest countries of 2018

Finland took first place in the ranking of the happiest countries in 2018. The top ten leaders have not changed for 2 years, they just change places. Following Finland are Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. These countries have been at the top of the happiness rankings for the past four years.

The six criteria used by the report's authors are: GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support, personal freedom, trust and generosity. All leading countries have high values these indicators.

World Happiness Index 2018

Who's position in the happiness rating changed and by how much?

An analysis of changes from 2008–2010 to 2015–2017 showed that Togo rose the most in the ranking (by 17 positions), and Venezuela showed the largest decline - by 2.2 points on a scale from 0 to 10.

Changes in the happiness index of countries from 2008–2010 to 2015–2017

Source: World Happiness Report 2018

How the happiness index has changed for individual countries can be seen on pages 10–15 (pdf).

Immigrant Happiness Rating

Perhaps the report's most striking finding is that countries rank nearly the same for the happiness of their immigrant populations as the rest of the population. The ten happiest countries in the overall ranking also occupy ten of the top eleven places in the immigrant happiness ranking. Finland is at the top of both rankings.

The closeness of these two ratings shows that happiness can and does change depending on the quality of the society in which people live. The happiness of immigrants, like locals, depends on a number of factors social structure, going well beyond the higher incomes that have traditionally been seen as a source of encouragement for migration. The countries with the happiest immigrants are not the richest countries. These are countries with a more balanced set of social and institutional support for better life. However, the immigrant's approach to happiness local population is not complete, the effect of the “footprint” of the source country of immigration remains. This effect ranges from 10–25%. This explains why the happiness of the immigrant is less than the happiness of the inhabitants of the native countries.

The report also looked at rural-to-urban migration based on the recent Chinese experience, which is referred to as greatest migration in history. The experience of such migration also demonstrates that migrants are approaching the satisfaction of life of city residents, as in international migration, but still remaining less than the average feeling of happiness in the city.

The importance of social factors

The report also examines the importance of social factors in the happiness of both migrants and non-migrants. Positions Latin American countries due to the great warmth of family and other social relations. The final part of the World Happiness Report 2018 focuses on three health problems that threaten happiness: drug addiction and. Despite the global context, most of The evidence and discussion focuses on the United States, where the prevalence of all three problems is growing faster than most other countries.

History of the World Happiness Report

The World Happiness Report was first released in April 2012 by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN).

In July 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution asking member countries to evaluate the happiness of their people and use it to guide their government policy. The first meeting was held on April 2, 2012 high level UN Happiness and Prosperity: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, chaired by Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan. It is the only country that has adopted gross national happiness instead of gross domestic product as its main indicator of development.

Six indicators are taken into account when calculating the level of happiness

1. GDP per capita (GDP per capita) taking into account domestic prices (PPP) in USD 2011 ( The World Bank, September 2017). The equation uses natural logarithm GDP per capita, since this form fits the data much better than GDP per capita (pdf, rating on pp. 57–59).

2.Healthy life expectancy (healthy life expectancy) (World organization Health, 2012, Human Development Indicators, 2017). Life expectancy in a given year * (Healthy life expectancy in 2012 / Life expectancy in 2012) (pdf, ranking on pp. 63–65).

3. Social support (social support) is the national average response to the question (about or 1) Gallup World Poll (GWP) “If you had a problem, could you count on family or friends to help you if needed?” (If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?) (pdf, rating on pp. 60–62).

4. Freedom of life choice(freedom to make life choices). National average response to Gallup World Poll (GWP) question (0 or 1): “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the freedom to choose what you do with your life?” (Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?) (pdf, rating on pp. 66–68).

5. Generosity (generosity): “Did you spend money on charity in the past month?” (Generosity is the residual of regressing national average of response to the GWP question “Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?” on GDP per capita.) (pdf, rating on pp. 69–71).

6. Perception of corruption (perceptions of corruption) is the national average response to the Gallup World Poll (GWP) question (about or 1): “Is government corruption widespread or not?” (“Is corruption widespread throughout the government or not?”) and “Is corruption widespread in business or not?” (“Is corruption widespread within businesses or not?”). Where data on government corruption is not available, perceptions of business corruption are used as a general measure of corruption perceptions. (pdf, rating on pp. 72–74).

In addition, the result was influenced by the subjective feeling of happiness or unhappiness. For example, answers to questions about the past day were taken into account: did you laugh? was there a feeling of happiness? were you feeling anxious? anger? Each country is also compared to a hypothetical country called "Dystopia". Dystopia represents the lowest national averages for each key variable.

When preparing the publication TheWorldOnly the following text was used:
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2018). World Happiness Report 2018, New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Read about Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Russia ranked tenth in the world in terms of growth in the level of happiness of citizens, UN experts say in the latest World Happiness Report 2016. The results are based on data from Gallup Inc., which surveyed 1,000 people in 157 countries. The level of happiness in the report was assessed based on six criteria, including GDP per capita, level of social support, healthy life expectancy, personal freedom, development of charity and level of perception of corruption.

Leading countries for increasing happiness in the world

In terms of growth dynamics in happiness indicators, Russia is in the list between Uzbekistan (9th place) and Peru (11th). Nicaragua ranks first in terms of growth in happiness. For comparison: in the USA there is a negative trend - happiness is melting there, general list according to this indicator, the United States is in 93rd place. The leaders in worsening indicators were Ukraine, Spain, Italy, India, Yemen, Venezuela, Botswana, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece.

Leading countries in terms of falling happiness levels/World happiness report 2016

In the overall ranking of the World Happiness Report 2016, Russia was in 56th place (in 2015 - 64th) - between Moldova (55th) and Poland (57th). The leader in terms of happiness was Denmark, which rose from third place in a year, overtaking Iceland (now in third place) and Switzerland (in second). Norway retained fourth place this year, and Finland took fifth, pushing Canada into the top 5 (it is now in sixth). For comparison: the USA is on 13th (in 2015 – on 15th), Great Britain – on 23rd (on 21st a year earlier), China – on 83rd (up from 84th), Ukraine is at 123rd (down from 111th). This year's ranking is completed by Togo, Syria and Burundi.

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), commissioned by the UN, conducted a study that resulted in a ranking of the happiest countries. The release of the report was timed to coincide with International Day happiness, which is celebrated on March 20th.

The top six countries whose citizens are considered the happiest in the world include Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, and the Netherlands.

Interestingly, the happiest country of last year did not make it to first place in the new ranking. There are still a number of enough prosperous countries that have lost ground, such as the United States. The author of the report, Jeffrey Sachs, linked the country's movement in the ranking from 13th to 14th place with the new policy pursued by the 45th American President Donald Trump.

“Trump's economic measures are aimed at increasing inequality - cutting taxes for highest category income, denial of funding for health care, reduction of appropriations for the program to deliver free meals to the infirm and poor people in order to increase military spending. I think these are all steps in the wrong direction,” says Sachs.

Russia’s performance this year, on the contrary, has improved: it rose in the ranking from 56th to 49th place, overtaking Japan and missing a few points to 48th place, which was taken by Italy.

The authors of the study looked at the lives of people in 155 countries. When compiling the list, six main criteria were taken into account. Economists took data on two of them from publicly available country statistics: GDP per capita and life expectancy. Three more criteria were taken from the data public surveys: social support of the population in difficult situations, freedom of choice and trust in government. The last aspect taken into account in the ranking was generosity - but here the researchers had to take the respondents' word for it. Each of them was asked how much they had recently donated to charity.

Controversial parameters

The parameters on which the study is based are quite controversial, therefore the results should be viewed critically, says Andrei Gribanov, a representative of the Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Research Foundation.

“The parameters by which they determined human happiness are quite strange. I have no questions about the parameter about generosity in charity. This is understandable to the average person. But the remaining points are not easy to correlate with the abstract concept of “happiness,” the expert said.

It is difficult to directly link GDP per capita with happiness: after all, you can be economically secure, but at the same time, for example, not have health, notes Gribanov.

• Reuters

“Life expectancy is also a controversial parameter. After all, statistics are a rather crafty thing. Some people in their immediate circle die quite early, while others have long-lived family members. Japan, for example, has one of the longest life expectancies, but there are also a lot of stories about lonely old people committing suicide,” explained Andrei Gribanov, adding that everyone has their own understanding of freedom of choice.

The happiness of the patient in the VIP ward

“The ranking is headed by those countries where there is a very high rate depression and suicide. How can the people of these countries be happy? Holland is generally the number one country in this sense. These are countries where the climate is quite rainy, not much sunny days(Unlike southern countries) plus a certain level of stability and monotonous employment of a person, that is, search activity is not particularly required there.”

The expert compared such happiness with the external well-being of a patient who is in the hospital in comfortable conditions, but at the same time does not cease to be sick.

“You can, for example, wonder whether a person who is in a hospital in a VIP ward is happy. He has it there too good conditions: He is alone in the room, there is air conditioning. But is he happy alone with his diagnosis? - he urged us to think.

The psychologist also believes that, taking into account all these parameters, the researchers “did not look into the soul,” but only measured external factors. But very often the feeling of happiness is subjective and is assessed by everyone in their own way.

“All research criteria come from an external factor, implying that if all six components are present, a person should be happy. But there is not a single subjective criterion here, there is no position that would come from the people. That is, they are supposed to be happy because they are given such conditions,” the expert said.

The elusive prosperity of the United States

Senior Researcher Institute of the USA and Canada, economist Vladimir Batyuk commented on the decrease in the “happiness rating” in the United States compared to last year. In his estimation, a drop of one position is a minor deterioration that should not be given much attention. And the comments of the report's author, Jeffrey Sachs, that happy people in the United States has become smaller due to the policies of the new President Donald Trump, and have no basis at all.

“Trump took office only two months ago, and it is too early to make any statements about the impact of his policies on the lives of the population. It seems that the author of the report is initially an ill-wisher of Trump,” the expert suggested.

In addition, according to his assessment, based on this report it is hardly possible to judge the real well-being of the countries included in the rating.

The Earth Institute at Columbia University has prepared the latest World Happiness Report 2016. Scientists have recognized Norway as the happiest country in the world. Russia improved its position and rose to 49th place in the list.

In addition, the top ten happiest countries in the world are Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.

However, experts did not include the United States in this number (the Americans took only 14th place), Germany (16th), Britain (19th), France (31st) and Saudi Arabia (37th).

Italy (48th place) and Uzbekistan (47th place) were ahead of Russia. Below on the list are Belize (50) and Japan (51).

The unluckiest countries

Scientists from the Earth Institute at Columbia University recognized the Central African Republic as the unhappiest country in the world, which took 155th place in the ranking.

Close behind the CAR are Burundi (154), Tanzania (153), Syria (152), Rwanda (151) and Togo (150).

Last year the unhappiest country was Burundi. Then scientists took into account 157 countries.

World Happiness Report Rating compiled since 2012. The customer of the study is the UN, which thus hopes to develop measures to improve the level and quality of life of the population in different countries of the world.

When compiling the ranking, six factors are taken into account: GDP per capita; life expectancy; social support in difficult situations; trust in government; people's assessment of the freedom to make decisions affecting their lives; and the generosity of residents (measured in terms of the size of donations to charity).

Measuring the level of happiness of residents of different countries is based mainly on individual assessments of residents.

Last year's VTsIOM polls also showed that Russians began to consider themselves happier. In November, 81 percent of respondents said so.

A fifth of Russians felt happy thanks to their family and children, and 14 percent - thanks to a good job.

“The most important thing is the weather in the house, and everything else is vanity” - these words from Larisa Dolina’s song very successfully characterize the nature of many social assessments of Russians. It is the situation at home, children, the health of family and friends that are the basis for assessments of social well-being and, above all, the feeling of happiness and fullness of life,” the head of the survey explained then research projects VTsIOM Mikhail Mamonov.

The all-Russian survey took place on November 5-6 at 130 populated areas. 1.6 thousand people took part in it.

World Happiness Index (The Happy Planet Index) is a combined indicator that measures the achievements of countries of the world and individual regions in terms of their ability to provide their residents happy life. Calculated using the methods of the British research center New Economic Foundation together with environmental organization Friends of the Earth, the humanitarian organization World Development Movement, and a group of independent international experts who use statistical data in their work, along with analytical developments national institutions And international organizations. Issued once every two to three years.

The purpose of the study is to show the relative efficiency with which countries use economic growth and natural resources to provide their citizens with a happy life. The compilers of the rating emphasize that in those countries where the emphasis is on the development of production, and with it economic growth, people, as a rule, do not become happier, since economic theories which the authorities of these states adhere to have nothing to do with life real people. The index measures the satisfaction of residents of each country and average duration their lives in relation to the amount they consume natural resources. Economic indicators are not used in the Index calculation methodology. Detailed description The methodology for the formation of the Index and data sources for it are given on the project website based on the results of the next comparative study.

1 Costa Rica 64.036

2 Vietnam 60.439

3 Colombia 59.751

4 Belize 59.290

5 El Salvador 58.887

7 Panama 57.799

8 Nicaragua 57.063

9 Venezuela 56.871

10 Guatemala 56.861

11 Bangladesh 56.292

12 Cuba 56.186

13 Honduras 55.976

14 Indonesia 55.482

15 Israel 55.204

16 Pakistan 54.140

17 Argentina 54.055

18 Albania 54.051

19 Chile 53.883

20 Thailand 53.458

21 Brazil 52.932

22 Mexico 52.894

23 Ecuador 52.481

24 Peru 52.369

25 Philippines 52.354

26 Algeria 52.181

27 Jordan 51.652

28 New Zealand 51,557

29 Norway 51.429

30 Palestine 51.192

31 Guyana 51.169

32 India 50.865

33 Dominican Republic 50.650

34 Switzerland 50.339

35 Sri Lanka 49.383

36 Iraq 49,190

37 Laos 49.130

38 Kyrgyzstan 49.082

39 Tunisia 48.298

40 Moldova 47.961

41 UK 47.925

42 Morocco 47.887

43 Tajikistan 47.789

44 Türkiye 47.624

45 Japan 47.508

46 Germany 47.200

47 Syria 47.120

48 Austria 47.085

49 Madagascar 46.826

50 France 46.523

51 Italy 46.352

52 Sweden 46.172

53 Armenia 46.003

54 Uzbekistan 46.003

55 Georgia 45.972

56 Saudi Arabia 45.965

57 Paraguay 45.826

58 Nepal 45.622

59 Cyprus 45.509

60 China 44.661

61 Myanmar 44.198

62 Spain 44.063

63 South Korea 43.781

64 Bolivia 43.578

65 Canada 43.560

66 Malta 43.101

67 Netherlands 43,088

68 Yemen 42,967

69 Lebanon 42.853

70 Finland 42.687

71 Poland 42.580

72 Malawi 42.463

73 Ireland 42.402

74 Bosnia and Herzegovina 42.355

75 Romania 42.182

76 Australia 41,980

77 Iran 41,693

78 Haiti 41.323

79 Serbia 41.276

80 Azerbaijan 40.885

81 Libya 40.799

82 Croatia 40.624

83 Greece 40.525

84 Malaysia 40.495

85 Cambodia 40.323

86 Ghana 40.298

87 Slovenia 40.174

88 Iceland 40.155

89 Slovakia 40.132

90 Singapore 39.782

91 Egypt 39.645

92 Czech Republic 39.353

93 Uruguay 39.321

94 Ethiopia 39,182

95 Turkmenistan 39.079

96 Namibia 38,883

97 Portugal 38.678

98 Kenya 38,000

99 Zambia 37.734

100 Ukraine 37.583

101 Sudan 37,574

102 Hong Kong 37.526

103 Belarus 37.415

104 Hungary 37.401

105 United States of America 37,340

106 Djibouti 37.238

107 Belgium 37.091

108 Rwanda 36.854

109 Afghanistan 36,754

110 Denmark 36.612

111 Mauritius 36.578

112 Comoros 36,504

113 Ivory Coast 35.934

114 Mozambique 35,748

115 Zimbabwe 35.317

116 Liberia 35,176

117 Estonia 34.945

118 Lithuania 34.870

119 Kazakhstan 34.704

120 Latvia 34.550

121 Congo 34.547

122 Russia 34.518

123 Bulgaria 34.145

124 Cameroon 33.687

125 Nigeria 33.623

126 Senegal 33.312

127 Angola 33.201

128 Mauritania 32.329

129 Burkina Faso 31.794

130 United United Arab Emirates 31.778

131 Uganda 31,526

132 Benin 31.083

133 Tanzania 30.741

134 Democratic Republic Congo 30.548

135 Burundi 30.515

136 Trinidad and Tobago 30.267

137 Guinea 29.960

138 Luxembourg 28.994

139 Sierra Leone 28,808

140 Macedonia 28.274

141 Togo 28.231

142 South Africa 28.190

143 Kuwait 27.112

144 Niger 26.833

145 Mongolia 26.766

146 Bahrain 26.618

147 Mali 26.038

148 Central African Republic 25,256

149 Qatar 25.192

150 Chad 24.682

151 Botswana 22,591

P.S..:

Two different methods for determining the level of happiness of the planet's population. It seems impossible to believe their results and compare them. Although I would really like to make sure that the people of Russia in the period from 2014 to 2016 are really rapidly moving towards their happiness. Your opinion, gentlemen!