These Are the Happiest 20 Countries in the World Peter Coy - Bloomberg
go to original April 25, 2015

Happiness seems to be most abundant a long way from the equator. At least according to the new World Happiness Report 2015. The 10 happiest countries are Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia. Except for war-torn Syria and Afghanistan, the 10 unhappiest countries are all in Saharan or sub-Saharan Africa.

Then again, you don't have to be shivering to be happy. Israel and Costa Rica are the 11th and 12th happiest countries. As for those at the bottom, their unhappiness probably has a lot more to do with poverty and violence than with proximity to the zero latitude line.

The U.S. is the 15th happiest country of the 158 covered by the survey, which obtained its data primarily from the Gallup World Poll. That puts the U.S. just behind Mexico (14) but ahead of Brazil (16), Britain (21), Japan (46), Russia (64), China (84), and Iran (110).



The report was published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which was launched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2012. A disclaimer states that the report was written by independent experts and doesn't necessarily reflect the views of the UN. In a press conference announcing the results, co-author Jeffrey Sachs, director of the SDSN and of the Earth Institute of Columbia University, said he hopes UN members will use the report in establishing Sustainable Development Goals for the next 15 years, which are supposed to be set later this year.

Read the rest at Bloomberg

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