World's Happiest Country

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Finland was named the world’s happiest country for the ninth consecutive year, the latest World Happiness Report revealed. Nordic countries—including Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—also ranked in the top 10. 

Analysts attribute Finland’s joy factor to its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among factors. Afghanistan maintained its place as the world’s unhappiest country. The results were based on answers from roughly 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories. Respondents were asked to rank their life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. Finnish respondents gave an average life satisfaction score of 7.7; Afghans answered 1.4. The US, in 23rd place, reported an average score of 6.8. Explore rankings here.

The report's authors cautioned this year that social media use is driving population-level drops in reported well-being among adolescents. Young English speakers and Western Europeans reported a nearly one-point drop on the happiness scale over the past decade. 

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😎 Charted: Where we're happiest

Data: World Happiness Report. Chart: Axios Visuals For the second consecutive year, no natively English-speaking country cracked the top 10 of the 2026 World Happiness Report released yesterday. ❄️ Finland is the world's happiest country for the ninth straight year — with other Nordic countries Iceland, Denmark and Sweden close behind. 🇨🇷 Costa Rica surged to 4th, as a new entrant to the top five. The report credits the strength of family bonds and other social connections. 😐 The U.S. sits at 23rd, moving up one spot since last year. Explore the data ... Go deeper.