World Happiness Report 2022

In News

• Recently, the 10th edition of the World Happiness Report 2022 was released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

World Happiness Report

• Published ever since 2012 by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
• The World Happiness Report is based on two key ideas:
  • Happiness or life evaluation measured through opinion surveys, and 
  • Identifying key elements that determine well-being including levels of GDP, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, across countries.
• The report usually ranks 150 countries based on several factors such as real GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
• Every year, each variable measures a populated-weighted average score on a scale of 0-10 that is tracked over a period of time and further compared with other countries.
• This year, countries which ranked in the top 10 last year, moved upwards and downwards.

Outcome of the Report

• Top Performers:
  • The top three positions in the World Happiness Report were won by three of the Scandinavian nations.
  • Finland was named the happiest nation in the world five times in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Netherlands.
• Worst Performers:
  • Afghanistan was ranked as the unhappiest nation, followed by Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana, respectively.
• India’s Performance:
  • India ranked 136 in 2022 report and jumped three spots from 139th in the 2021
  • The country’s chronic unhappiness is a result of many factors: rapid urbanization and congestion in cities, declining incomes and unemployment, unfavourable perceptions about corruption in the country, rising costs of healthcare, women’s safety, and environmental pollution, which itself is linked to poor mental wellbeing.

Source: HT