World Happiness Report 2023

The World Happiness Report is released every year on March 20 which also marks the celebration of International Day of Happiness. It ranks countries on the basis of the level of happiness.

This article will provide you with important facts about the report for the IAS Exam.

What is the World Happiness Report?

It is the report that ranks countries on the basis of how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. It is different from the Human Development Report (HDR) which focuses on three dimensions – healthy life, knowledge and standard of living.

The World Happiness Report, which has been published since 2012, is founded on two main principles:

• Identifying key elements that determine well-being and life evaluation across countries.
• Happiness or life evaluation measured through opinion surveys.

Each variable is measured annually and given a populated-weighted average score on a scale from 0 to 10, which is then tracked over time and further compared with other nations. 

The report typically awards rankings to 150 nations based on a number of variables, including 

• Real social support, 
• GDP per capita, 
• Freedom of choice in one’s life, 
• Healthy life expectancy, 
• Perceptions of corruption and 
• Generosity.

Candidates can also read about the Women Empowerment schemes at the linked article.

World Happiness Report 2023

• Finland has topped the chart and is the happiest country in the world while Denmark and Iceland hold second and third positions respectively.
• Afghanistan has secured the last position in the chart since 2020 due to the humanitarian crisis it has been facing since the Taliban took over the administration.
•  In the 2023 edition, India has improved its ranking to 126th position out of 137 countries in comparison to the 135th position in the 2022 report.
• But, if we compare our neighbouring countries in South Asia, India still ranks below countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Bangladesh. 
• India only ranked better than Afghanistan which was placed at 137, the bottom position.
• Despite being the fastest economy India has secured a very low rank in the index, even Russia and Ukraine, despite being at war for more than one year, ranked better than India at 70th and 92nd in terms of happiness. So it raises doubts about the credibility of the report and the method of evaluation.

Country Rankings by Life Evaluations in 2020-2022 are as under (World Happiness Report 2023 List):

Performance of Countries

• Top Performers: 
  • Three countries from the Scandinavian region were awarded the top three spots in the World Happiness Report.
  • Finland has been named the world’s happiest country six times in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel, and the Netherlands.
  • While the United States managed to secure the 15th spot among western nations, Britain came in at 19th and France at 21st.
• Worst Performers:
  • Only Afghanistan under the Taliban performed worse than India among the South Asian countries.
  • Afghanistan came at 137th rank, which was preceded by Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, and Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively.
  • Nepal (78), Bangladesh (118), Pakistan (108) and Sri Lanka (112) managed to get better ranks in the list than India.
• India’s Performance:
  • India moved up three ranks from 139th in the 2021 report to 136th in the 2022 edition and in the 2023 edition it reached the 126 spot.
  • According to the Happiness Report, India was one of the nations where people’s assessments of their quality of life declined by more than one full point on a scale of 0 to 10 over the previous ten years.
  • Numerous factors contribute to the persistent unhappiness of the nation, including 
    • Rapid urbanization and congestion in cities
    • Declining incomes and unemployment
    • Unfavourable perceptions about corruption in the country
    • Rising costs of healthcare
    • Women’s safety
    • Environmental pollution 
    • Poor mental well-being

Read about Good Governance – Introduction, Definition & Characteristics, in the linked article.

Why are the connections between happiness, government and the law important?

• Experiences from several nations confirm that the countries with higher GDP and higher per capita income are not necessarily the happiest countries and there exists a link between the state of happiness and rule of law.
• Public policy is now widely acknowledged to aim at making people happier. A new narrative that explores the relationships between law, government, and happiness has gained momentum as a result of this discourse.

Also, read about Social Empowerment – Definition and Government Initiatives, in the linked article.

Significance Of The Happiness Report

• The WHRs have consistently shown that people generally have:
  • Poor perception about governance and law and order, despite high-income levels.
  • A low score of subjective well-being.
  • Poor mental health.
• Over time, happiness has emerged as a crucial indicator to monitor for both nations and corporations.
• Finding the main factors influencing well-being is the report’s objective.

This knowledge is expected to assist nations in formulating strategies targeted at creating happier societies.

Know about the Government Schemes aims to address various issues of the society.

World Happiness Report 2023 – UPSC Notes:-Download PDF Here

World Happiness Report 2021

India has ranked 139 in the World Happiness Rankings 2021 published in the 9th World Happiness Report. It has been released in March 2021. India’s rank in 2020 was 144. The World Happiness Report 2021 has ranked 140 countries.

Sustainable Development Solutions Network to the United Nations (UN) publishes the World Happiness Report. The latest edition of the report was published on 20th March 2021 which also celebrated World Happiness Day.

• India’s rank of happiness (average life evaluations) based on 2020 score – 92
• India’s overall rank 2018-2020 – 139

Key Findings of the World Happiness Report 2021

It uses Gallup World Poll data among others to bring out its findings regarding world happiness.

The facts presented in the official reports are briefed down below:

1. Despite COVID pandemic crisis, there has been no major change in the rankings of the countries compared to the previous data.
2. Unemployment during the pandemic is associated with a 12% decline in life satisfaction and a 9% increase in negative affect.
3. Finland remains the happiest country in the world. It is the fourth time, Finland found its name at the top.
4. The top 10 countries based on the 2020 score are:
   • Finland
   • Denmark
   • Switzerland
   • Iceland
   • Netherlands
   • Norway
   • Sweden
   • Luxembourg
   • New Zealand
   • Austria
5. Rank of India’s neighbours in World Happiness Rankings 2021:
   • Sri Lanka – 32
   • Nepal – 87
   • Bhutan – Rank not mentioned in the official report
   • China – 84
   • Afghanistan – 149 (At the bottom)
   • Pakistan – 105
   • Bangladesh – 101
   • Myanmar – 126
   • Maldives – 89
6. The countries at the bottom of the rankings are (Bottom 3):
   • Rwanda – 147
   • Zimbabwe – 148
   • Afghanistan – 149
7. The United States ranked 19th in the world happiness rankings 2021.

Key Findings of the World Happiness Report 2020

The World Happiness Report 2020 had for the first time ranked the cities by their subjective well-being and measured how the social, urban and natural environments combine to affect happiness. The report used 2017-2019 data. The key findings of the UN’s World Happiness Report as mentioned in the official report, are given below:

1. Finland is the happiest country in the world as per the World Happiness Report 2020. It has topped the world happiness rankings the third time in a row.
2. The other four countries in the top 5 world happiness rankings are:
   • Denmark
   • Switzerland (Jumped from 6th to 3rd position)
   • Iceland
   • Norway (Fell from 3rd to 5th position)
3. Afghanistan, South Sudan and Zimbabwe are at the bottom in the World Happiness Report 2020.
4. India ranks 144 in the World Happiness Report 2020.
5. In the top 10, most of the spots belong to nordic states.
6. Helsinki is the happiest city in the world. The other top four happiest cities are:
   • Aarhus (Denmark)
   • Wellington (New Zealand)
   • Zurich (Switzerland)
   • Copenhagen (Denmark)
7. The bottom ten cities ranked in world happiness rankings include Delhi at 180. (186 cities have been ranked).
8. Kabul in Afghanistan is ranked as the unhappiest city in the world happiness rankings.
9. Luxembourg ranked in top 10 (Rank – 9) against its earlier rank of 14 in World Happiness Report 2019.
10. The US is ranked 18th in the world happiness rankings 2020 (In 2019, its rank was 19; and 11 in the first world happiness report)
11. Sadness, worry and anger are the drivers of unhappiness with the rise in unhappiness majorly due to the first two.
12. Top 5 countries that showed significant changes in their happiness levels between 2008-2020 are:
    • Benin
    • Togo
    • Hungary
    • Bulgaria
    • Philippines
13. In East, South and Southeast Asia, most countries had significant changes.
14. India is ranked among the bottom 20 countries that showed an insignificant change in happiness or a downward trend in happiness. (The five largest drops since 2008-2012 were in Venezuela, Afghanistan, Lesotho, Zambia, and India.)

Aspirants should know important facts about who brings the world happiness report for UPSC Prelims. While world happiness rankings and drivers of world happiness can be used in UPSC mains answer writings as per the need. Mostly, the facts can be used in the essay paper of the civil services mains examination. (Aspirants can read on how to write an essay in the UPSC exam at the linked article.)

World Happiness Report 2020-21 – UPSC Notes:-Download PDF Here

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