Indians unhappy? India ranked 136th in the annual UN-sponsored happiness index
Helsinki: India is ranked low at 136, even below Pakistan at 121. In the annual UN-backed index, Afghanistan was ranked the most unfortunate and Lebanon was hardest behind. Finland is crowned for the first time in a row for the fifth year in a row.
The latest list was completed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
War-torn Afghanistan, which was already at the end of the table last year, saw its humanitarian crisis deepen after the Taliban returned to power last August following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.
Lebanon, threatened with an economic collapse, fell second to last in the index of 146 countries, just below Zimbabwe.
Afghanistan is classified as the happiest country in the world.
Russia and Ukraine, which are currently at war with each other, are ranked 80th and 98th, respectively. The World Happiness Report 2022 listings were drawn up long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February.
In the World Happiness Report, countries are ranked based on a number of factors, such as real GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption.
The World Happiness Index is based on two key ideas – an assessment of happiness or life as measured by opinion polls, and identifies the key elements that determine the assessment of well-being and life in different countries.
In addition to their own sense of well-being, happiness scores take into account the level of GDP, social support, personal freedom and corruption in each country’s Gallup surveys.
This year, the authors also used social media data to compare people’s feelings before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. They observed a “sharp increase in anxiety and grief” in 18 countries, but a decrease in feelings of anger.
“The lesson of the World Happiness Report over the years is that social support, generosity to each other and honesty in government are crucial to well-being,” wrote Jeffrey Sachs, co-author of the report. “World leaders need to be considered.”
Jukka Viitasaari, next to the Baltic Sea, which was still frozen at Helsinki Market Square on Friday, said that he was not surprised that Finns described themselves as happy.
“A lot of things are undeniably good here – beautiful nature, we have good management, a lot of things are okay,” the business owner told AFP.
The land of vast forests and lakes is also known for its well-functioning public services, ubiquitous saunas, widespread trust in authority, and low levels of crime and inequality.