The 2015 World Happiness Report revealed Thursday that Switzerland is this year's happiest nation, with Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada ranking closely. Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia also make the Top 10 rank, which has been dominated by Western European countries.
In a study done by academics for the United Nations under its Sustainable Development Solutions Network, it was revealed that those who are in the happiest countries benefit from longer life expectancies, a good social support where generosity is prevalent and more freedom to make choices. The happiest countries also exhibited higher gross domestic product per capita and fewer corruption in public service.
"All of these countries do well in several ways. Being rich? That's good, but it's only a modest part of the story. Trusting society, having a government that ranks on low in corruption, a society where people are generous and volunteering -- all of these are important for happiness," Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the network, said in a report from CNN. He also cites that the same countries were ranked in the top 13 post in 2014, but their order has changed for this year.
Meanwhile, the United States landed at the 15th spot, while Britain is at the 21st. These two nations trail behind countries like Israel (11th) and Mexico (14th). On the other hand, countries with conflicts, such as Syria and Afghanistan, expectedly landed at the bottom of the list along with African nations like Rwanda (154th), Togo (158th) and the Ivory Coast (151st). Iraq, however, ranked at 112, ahead of India (117th) and Bulgaria (134th).
The report also cited the resiliency of nations that experienced harrowing natural disasters and economic crisis, such as Japan, Ireland and Iceland.
The 166-page report will be distributed to governments in different parts of the world. "We want this to have an impact, to put it straight forwardly, on the deliberations on sustainable development because we think this really matters," Sachs said.
