Denmark, Norway,
Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden are the world's happiest
countries, according to the survey of 156 countries. Rwanda, Burundi,
the Central African Republic, Benin and Togo -- all nations in
Sub-Saharan Africa -- are the least satisfied with their lives, the
report said.
The United States came in
at number 17 in the world in terms of overall happiness, but it still
lags behind Canada (6), Australia (10), Israel (11) the United Arab
Emirates (14) and Mexico (16), according to the Earth Institute.
The report ranks the
United Kingdom as the 22nd happiest country in the world. Other major
nations included Germany (26), Japan (43), Russia (68) and China (93).
The global survey was
conducted between 2010 and 2012 and follows the Earth Institute's first
rankings released last year. While "the world has become a slightly
happier and more generous place over the past five years," economic and
political upheavals have resulted in greatly reduced levels of well
being for some nations, the report said.
Rankings for Greece,
Italy, Portugal and Spain fell dramatically because of the impact of the
eurozone crisis, while Egypt, Myanmar and Saudi Arabia registered large
falls in the wake of recent political and civil turmoil.
Egypt had the greatest
fall in happiness levels. On a scale of 1 to 10 -- with 10 rated as
happiest -- Egypt averaged 4.3 in 2012, compared to 5.4 in 2007.
Angola, Zimbabwe and Albania experienced the largest increases across all the countries surveyed.
"On a regional basis, by
far the largest gains in life evaluations in terms of the prevalence
and size of the increases have been in Latin America and the Caribbean,
and in Sub-Saharan Africa", the report said. Reduced levels of
corruption also contributed to the rise.
Governments seeking to
improve the happiness of their populations should spend a higher
proportion of their health budgets on mental illness, which is the
single biggest "determinant of misery" in countries assessed, the study
authors said.
"People can be unhappy
for many reasons -- from poverty to unemployment to family breakdown to
physical illness," the report said. "But in any particular society,
chronic mental illness is a highly influential cause of misery.
"If we want a happier world, we need a completely new deal on mental health."
The 2013 World Happiness
Report comes on the back of a growing global movement calling for
governments and policy makers to reduce their emphasis on achieving
economic growth and focus on policies that can improve people's overall
well-being.
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