Ukraine ranks 111th in the international happiness ranking. Which countries are the happiest?
20 March 2025 17:56
The World Happiness Report 2025 study showed that Finland has been the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row. Ukraine took 111th place in the ranking.
This is stated in the annual World Happiness Report and written by the BBC, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
In total, there are 147 countries in the happiness ranking. Ukraine received 4.68 points out of 10 possible. Over the year, our country has fallen from 105th to 111th place. Now Ukraine is between the African Republic of Niger and Morocco in the study.
They lead the ranking of the happiest countries:
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Netherlands
- Costa Rica
- Norway
- Israel
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
For the second year in a row, the United States did not make it to the top 10 happiest countries and took 24th place.
Afghanistan was the lowest in the ranking, followed by Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
The study found that strangers are about twice as kind as people expect.
This year’s World Happiness Report measured trust in strangers by modeling a situation with lost wallets, analyzing how many were returned, and comparing it to people’s expectations. The rate of returned wallets was almost twice as high as people predicted, and the study showed that belief in the kindness of others is more closely related to happiness than previously thought.
John F. Halliwell, an economist at the University of British Columbia and founding editor of the report, said the data from the wallet experiment showed that “people are much happier when they think they care about each other.”
He added that the study showed that people “are overly pessimistic everywhere” and that the likelihood of returning wallets is much higher than predicted.
The World Happiness Report 2025 also found
- the decline in happiness and social trust in the US and parts of Europe is due to political polarization;
- sharing meals with other people was closely related to well-being around the world;
- household size was associated with happiness: 4-5 people living together had the highest levels of happiness in Mexico and Europe.
The UN representative believes that the results once again confirm that “happiness is based on trust, kindness and social connections.”
The director of the Oxford Wellbeing Research Center added:
“In this era of social isolation and political polarization, we need to find ways to bring people back to the table – it’s crucial for our individual and collective well-being.”
TheWorld Happiness Report is a partnership between Gallup and the Oxford Centre for Wellbeing Studies, the United Nations Network for Sustainable Development and the World Happiness Report Editorial Board. The report is prepared under the editorial control of the World Happiness Report Editorial Board.
The World Happiness Report reflects the global need to pay more attention to happiness and well-being as criteria for public policy. It examines the state of happiness in the modern world and shows how the science of happiness explains personal and national differences in happiness.
