Methodology

The World Happiness Report was developed through a partnership with Gallup, the University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and an editorial board.

For the report, researchers surveyed over 100,000 people in more than 140 countries through the Gallup World Poll between 2022 and 2024. In the survey, participants were asked to rank their happiness on a scale of one to 10, with 10 representing the best possible life.

The researchers also looked at six factors that could explain participants' happiness evaluations:

• Social support
• GDP per capita
• A healthy life expectancy
• Freedom to make life choices
• Generosity
• Perception of corruption

The happiest (and unhappiest) countries in the world

This year, the 10 happiest countries in the world were:

1. Finland (Score: 7.764)
2. Iceland (7.540)
3. Denmark (7.539)
4. Costa Rica (7.439)
5. Sweden (7.255)
6. Norway (7.242)
7. Netherlands (7.223)
8. Israel (7.187)
9. Luxembourg (7.063)
10. Switzerland (7.018)

"What stands out in Nordic countries is not just policy, but culture — a deep emphasis on trust, community, and shared responsibility," said Markus Wartiovaara, director of the Hanken Business Lab at the Hanken School of Economics. "These factors create a foundation where people feel supported, which ultimately drives both well-being and resilience."

"Finland does a lot of things right," said Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Wellbeing Research Centre. "They have high wealth and redistribute it. They have great social support. They trust each other and trust the institutions. They've got healthy life expectancy and a great public healthcare system."

Costa Rica is a new entry into the top five, which climbed to fourth place this year after rising from 23rd in 2023. The report attributes this rise to well-being boosts from family bonds and other social connections.

"We think it's because of the quality of their social lives and the stability that they currently enjoy," said De Neve, adding that Latin America "more generally has strong family ties, strong social ties, a great level of social capital, as a sociologist would call it, more so than in other places."

The United States, meanwhile, ranked 23rd in the happiness rankings, up one spot from 24th last year. A key driver behind the United States' ranking, according to the report, is younger Americans.

Social media driving unhappiness in young people

The report suggested that social media use may be partly to blame for young people's unhappiness around the world, as it found that young people who use social media more than five hours a day reported a lower level of well-being.

Ron Levey noted that the report doesn't conclude that social media is the dominant or only factor explaining differences in youth's well-being, but it is at least one of the factors.

According to Cass Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School, people are aware of the negative impacts resulting from social media use, but after analyzing three studies, he found that "a lot of young people spend time on social media platforms only because other young people spend time on social media platforms — and they wish those platforms did not exist."

Sunstein also found that people would not pay a lot to use social media platforms for a month but would need to be paid a lot of money to stay off them for the same time, even though doing so made them feel better.

"When people stay off Facebook for a month, they are happier, less anxious, and less depressed," he said. "Even so, they would have to be paid about $85 to be off Facebook for another month."

However, not all social media platforms are the same. Those that emphasize social connection tend to have a more positive association with happiness while those driven by algorithmic feeds and influencer content are more commonly linked to negative outcomes.

"The global evidence makes clear that the links between social media use and our well-being heavily depend on what platforms we're using, who's using them and how, as well as for how long," De Neve said. "Heavy usage is associated with much lower well-being, but those deliberately off social media also appear to be missing out on some positive effects."