The United Nations on March 14 released The World Happiness Report 2018, which ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants.
The report notes that Tajikistan has climbed 14 places, from 96th to 80th place.
The study ranks Kazakhstan 60th, Kyrgyzstan 92nd and Uzbekistan 44th.
Meanwhile, Nordic nations take top four places in happiness rankings. Finland (7.632) has overtaken Norway (7.594) to become the happiest nation on earth, according to a UN report. Norway is followed by Denmark (7.555) and Iceland (7.495).
Burundi in east Africa, scarred by bouts of ethnic cleansing, civil wars and coup attempts, is the unhappiest place in the world. Strikingly, there are five other nations – Rwanda, Yemen, Tanzania, South Sudan and the Central African Republic – which report happiness levels below that of even Syria.
For the first time the UN also examined the happiness levels of immigrants in each country, and found Finland also scored highest.
The report is an annual publication from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network that contains rankings of national happiness and analysis of the data from various perspectives. The rankings are based on Gallup polls of self-reported wellbeing, as well as perceptions of corruption, generosity and freedom.
The first World Happiness Report was released on April 1, 2012 as a foundational text for the UN High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, drawing international attention. The report outlined the state of world happiness, causes of happiness and misery, and policy implications highlighted by case studies. In 2013, the second World Happiness Report was issued, and since then has been issued on an annual basis with the exception of 2014.
