DM Deshpande
Finland is named the world’s happiest nation in the world by the UN. On the occasion of International Day of Happiness, the UN released the World Happiness Report 2025. There are no major surprises though interestingly Finland has retained the top position consecutively for the eighth year.
As expected all the five Nordic countries-Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland are listed in the top ten happiest nations. The US has dropped to its lowest running at 24th while the UK is placed at 23rd . Surprisingly Mexico and Costa Rica have made it to the top 10. Among nations Afghanistan is rated the unhappiest where its women have reported new challenges and struggles that have made their lives even more difficult.
The rankings are based on a study by the Wellbeing Research Centre of Oxford University and compiled in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Network Solutions. A total of 147 countries participated in the survey where the citizens were asked to rate their quality of life over the last three preceding years from 2022 to 2024. It covered six broad areas to help life evaluations-GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perception of level of corruption.
India has been ranked at 118 which is some improvement from the previous year’s 126th position. India scores on social support with its strong community based culture and large families living together. However, it fares poorly on freedom and perception of corruption.
Several participants felt that they lack freedom to make life choices that will lead to their betterment. Shockingly, even war torn and conflict ridden nations-Ukraine, Pakistan, Mozambique and Iraq are placed above India in the ranking.
The ruling government is certain to use this to disown the findings of the report on the basis of inherent flaws, coverage issues and perhaps, even bias. Among India’s neighbours, Nepal is ranked the highest at 92 followed by Pakistan at 109 while Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been ranked lower at 133 and 134 respectively.
Nordic countries continue to benefit from high quality universally available health care, education and social support systems. Speaking of Finland, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Professor of Economics at Oxford University and Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre, says, ‘They’re wealthy, they’re healthy, have social connections and social support and a connection with nature. They’re not happy, joyful dancing in the streets type people, but they’re very content with their lives.”
Elaborating further he said that this year’s happiness report goes beyond traditional methods of looking at health and wealth parameters. Hence, there is a thrust on sharing meals with others and trusting others since they have emerged as stronger indicators of wellbeing. The number of people dining alone has increased by 53 per cent in the last two decades in the US. Household size matters for happiness and the average family size is 4 to 5 living together in Europe and Mexico enjoy the highest level of happiness. However, in Europe, as in most of the west, several people live on their own.
Interestingly, income and wealth inequality is a major cause for unhappiness among citizens. Here the Nordic countries score over other western nations. The US Australia and the UK have similar GDP per capita to that of the Nordic countries. But the wealth distribution is seen to be more equal in the latter with higher taxes and lower levels of corruption. Whereas there are lots of people who have rated scores of 10 out of 10 in the US, UK, and Australia, but there are lots of others too who have given scores of 1 or 2. In contrast in most Nordic countries the average scores are between 7 and 8 on wellbeing.
Nordic countries enjoy greater freedom in deciding life choices; states’ policies are supportive like flexible working hours and substantial leisure time vacation and holidays. Norway, for instance, boasts of an average of just 27 hours of work week, far below the global norms. Compare this with some of our well known industry leaders advocating 70 and 90 weekly working hours with fewer paid leave and no vacation.
Trusting others, especially fellow citizens, is shown to be a strong predictor of people’s happiness. Here too, Nordic nations score well above the rest of the world, the kindness factor, generosity and honesty. Example is cited of return of lost wallets where Nordic countries top the list of nations where, both the average expected and actual return of lost wallets are very high.
India can brush aside the report on various grounds; that it is biased; it is based on western standards; coverage is inadequate (in fact, people in Indian villages tend to be happier than those in urban areas); flawed methodology and the like.
Bhutan, India’s eastern neighbour is the pioneer of tracking happiness. The World Annual Happiness Report acknowledges it and says that interest in happiness exists thanks to Bhutan. It sponsored a UN resolution in 2011 which was adopted and the first report was rolled out in 2012.
The kingdom nation goes a step further to replace GDP with people’s gross happiness. India and Indians have a choice to make whether to just reject the report and do nothing or initiate policy measures where the scores are dismal, for instance, on freedom and perception about levels of corruption. True welfare states are known to do all it takes to care, secure the future and safeguard health and wellbeing of their citizens.
The author has four decades of experience in higher education teaching and research. He is the former first vice-chancellor of ISBM University, Chhattisgarh
