For the fifth year in a row, Finland has been declared the world’s happiest country, according to an annual UN-sponsored index that once again ranks Afghanistan as the unhappiest country, closely followed by Lebanon.
The most significant improvements in happiness were seen in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. Lebanon, Venezuela, and Afghanistan saw the biggest drops in the World Happiness Index, which was issued on Friday.
Lebanon, which is in the midst of an economic crisis, has dropped to second from bottom on the 146-nation index, barely ahead of Zimbabwe.
War-traumatized Afghanistan’s humanitarian catastrophe has worsened since the Taliban retook power last August, putting it at the bottom of the table.
If they are not helped, UNICEF forecasts that one million children under the age of five may die of hunger this winter.
“This (index) serves as a striking reminder of the material and immaterial harm that war causes to its many victims,” Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, a co-author, stated.
The World Happiness Report, currently in its tenth year, is based on people’s self-reports of happiness as well as economic and societal data.