SA is ranked 107 on the World Happiness Report.
Image: 123rf/ Chanitkasem Sanguanwit
SA has fallen short of being among the top 100 happiest countries in the world.
This is according to the annual World Happiness Report, which placed SA at 107 out of 156 countries. The survey, now in its seventh year, rates a country by how happy its citizens perceive themselves to be.
The report was released by the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Wednesday to coincide with International Day of Happiness, which was celebrated under the theme, “Happier Together”. The theme focused on what humans have in common, rather than what divides us..
This year’s report focused on happiness and the community: how happiness has evolved over the past dozen years, with a focus on the technologies, social norms, conflicts and government policies that have driven those changes.
It ranked countries on the six variables that support wellbeing: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity.
At the top of the list was Finland while war-torn South Sudan was ranked at the bottom.
According to CNN report co-editor John Helliwell, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia: “The top 10 countries tend to rank high in all six variables, as well as emotional measures of wellbeing.”
African countries that made the top 100 were Libya, Algeria, Nigeria and Ghana.
World’s happiest countries
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Norway
4. Iceland
5. Netherlands
6. Switzerland
7. Sweden
8. New Zealand
9. Canada
10. Australia
World’s least happy countries
1. South Sudan
2. Central African Republic
3. Afghanistan
4. Tanzania
5. Rwanda
6. Yemen
7. Malawi
8. Syria
9. Botswana
10. Haiti
