Finland has a lot to celebrate. Not only does it have a capital city bursting with gastronomic creativity, the spectacular Northern Lights and Santa Claus's year-round home (plus the reindeer support staff) in Lapland. It's also the happiest country in the world for the second year in a row, according to the latest World Happiness Report . It's followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands. The World Happiness Report was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations on March 20, the United Nations has declared to be International Day of Happiness . The report ranks countries on six key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity. "The top 10 countries tend to rank high in all six variables, as well as emotional measures of well-being," says report co-editor John Helliwell, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia. And that's not just about the native-born residents of those countries. "It's true that last year all Finns were happier than rest of the countries' residents, but their immigrants were also happiest immigrants in the world," Helliwell. "It's not about Finnish DNA. It's the way life is lived in those countries. They pay high taxes for a social safety net, they trust their government, they live in freedom and they are generous with each other. "They do care about each other," he says. "That's the kind of place people want to live." Differences among the top eight countries are small enough that jostling among the top five is expected every year. Switzerland came in sixth place, followed by Sweden, New Zealand, Canada (the only country in the Americas) and Austria. The 2019 list only changed a little, with Austria nudged Australia out of the top 10 list. Australia dropped one spot to 11th place. Support in difficult times Ranking high in happiness doesn't protect a country's people from violence or trauma, as the recent attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand shows. But the response of New Zealand's people to the attack does. New Zealand came in eighth place this year, as it did last year. "What stands out about the happiest and most well connected societies is their resilience and ability to deal with bad things," says Helliwell. "After the 2011 earthquake and now the terrorist attack in Christchurch -- with high social capital, where people are connected -- people rally and help each other and (in after the earthquake) rebuild immediately." The US rank is dropping The United States came in 19th place, dropping one spot since last year and a total of five spots since 2017. Except for its 10th place ranking for income, the US doesn't rank in the top 10 on measures that make up a happy country in the UN report. They include 12th place for generosity, 37th place for social support, 61st place for freedom and 42nd place for corruption. Addiction is partly to blame, says report co-author Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, who wrote a chapter focused on the US epidemic of addictions and on unhappiness in America, a rich country where happiness has been declining. This year's report provides sobering evidence of how addictions are causing considerable unhappiness and depression in the US," says Sachs, in a press release. "Addictions come in many forms, from substance abuse to gambling to digital media. The compulsive pursuit of substance abuse and addictive behaviors is causing severe unhappiness." Social connections are weakening in the US as social media usage is raising anxiety, especially among adolescents, says Helliwell. Superpowers are not super happy No other super powers made it into the top 10 rankings, either. The United Kingdom came in 15th place, up from 18th place, while Germany came in 17th place, down from 15th. Japan came in 58th place (down from 54th), Russia came in 68th place (down from 59th) and China came in 93rd place (down from 86th). People in South Sudan are the most unhappy with their lives, according to the survey of 156 countries, followed by Central African Republic (155), Afghanistan (154), Tanzania (153) and Rwanda (152). Bolstered by population growth, overall world happiness has fallen over the past few years, which has mostly been fueled by a sustained drop in India, which came in 140th place this year (versus 133rd place in 2018). There has also been an increase of negative emotions, which were also measured and include worry, sadness and anger. It began with Bhutan The prime minister of the tiny country of Bhutan proposed a World Happiness Day to the United Nations in 2011, which brought international attention to happiness as a metric. Bhutan came in 95th place (up two spots from last year) in this year's report. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 20 as World Happiness Day , recognizing "the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives." This report is the seventh to come out since 2012. The rankings of the world's happiest countries came from an analysis of data from surveys in 156 countries, including the Gallup World Poll starting in 2005-2006. World's happiest countries 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Norway 4. Iceland 5. Netherlands 6. Switzerland 7. Sweden 8. New Zealand 9. Canada 10. Australia World's least happy countries 1. South Sudan 2. Central African Republic 3. Afghanistan 4. Tanzania 5. Rwanda 6. Yemen 7. Malawi 8. Syria 9. Botswana 10. Haiti<doc-sep>advertisement advertisement The top three countries with the highest sustained levels of happiness in recent years are Finland, Denmark, and Norway, in that order. Next up, it’s Iceland and the Netherlands to round out the top five. Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, and Austria make up six through 10. advertisement advertisement Where’s the U.S.? It just barely made the top 20. It places 19th overall based on the annual rate of happiness that citizens reported over a three-year period from 2016 to 2018, according to the 2019 World Happiness Report compiled by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). The report’s calculations are based on Gallup surveys of at least 1,000 people in roughly 140 countries each year. Gallup asks respondents to imagine they’re climbing a ladder with steps numbered between one and 10. The top steps represent their best possible life, and it gets worse toward the bottom. The organization then asks each person which rung feels closest to how they currently feel. In the U.S., the average stops at roughly 6.8. Among the top three countries, it climbs to at least 7.5 or higher. In more detailed polls, Gallup has drilled down on what factors play into that. The report notes the importance of communities with strong social support, a healthy economy, and high life expectancy. Freedom around life choices, others acting generously, and a general lack of societal corruption also play a part. advertisement Researchers also tracked what countries have made the biggest increases or decreases over the last decade by comparing each place’s recent average to a yearly average from 2005 to 2008. Shifts generally correlate with increased societal stability or upheaval. According to the report, mood improvements over the last 10 years have occurred in Benin, Nicaragua, and Bulgaria. The steepest drops occurred in Venezuela, Syria, and Botswana, all of which are rife with conflict. Overall, happiness in the United States actually decreased nearly a half-rung over the last decade. That may be cause for some concern: After all, people’s happiness is generally good shorthand for how content they feel, and whether they feel their lives are moving in the right direction. Gallup has previously shown how continued declines in seemingly stable places might be a predictor of future upheaval. In the case of Brexit, for instance, while the United Kingdom’s GDP increased steadily for roughly a decade, its happiness rating fluctuated–and then declined sharply in the three years leading up to the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union. In Egypt and the Ukraine, the same inversion presaged massive protests and social uprisings in 2011 and 2014, respectively. advertisement<doc-sep>B ritons are becoming increasingly happy after an annual UN survey placed the UK as 15th in the 156-country ranking. The seventh annual World Happiness Report, conducted between 2016 and 2018, showed Britain climbing the charts by four places since last year. Scandinavian countries were found to be the happiest, with Finland, Denmark and Norway in the top three. On the other hand, South Sudan and Burundi were the least happy out of the 156 countries. Respondents to the survey, published by the London-based Action for Happiness charity, placed the status of their lives on a 0 to 10 scale. Top 15 happiest nations in the world 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Norway 4. Iceland 5. Netherlands 6. Switzerland 7. Sweden 8. New Zealand 9. Canada 10. Austria 11. Australia 12. Costa Rica 13. Israel 14. Luxembourg 15. United Kingdom The nations at the bottom of the list are usually affected by economic, political and social turmoil. Laurie Santos, professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University told the BBC: “Science has proved that being happy requires a conscious effort. “It’s not easy, it takes time.” “Being happy isn’t something that just happens. You’ve got to practice to be better at it,” she said. Her class called Psychology and the Good Life is the most popular in the 317 year history of the US Ivey league college. Professor Santos recommends writing a gratitude list, eight hours sleep, meditation, quality time with friends and family, and less social media. She said: “We've seen that the students who regularly do this exercise actually tend to be happier. "It might seem silly, but we know that sleeping more and better reduces your chances of suffering from depression and improves your positive attitude,” she added.<doc-sep>If you’re feeling low, it may be time to book a trip to Finland. The results of the seventh annual World Happiness Report have revealed that residents of Finland are the happiest in the world — for the second year in a row. But it’s not something inherent in Finnish DNA, according to the researchers. “It's true that last year all Finns were happier than rest of the countries' residents, but their immigrants were also happiest immigrants in the world,” John Helliwell, co-editor of the report and a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, told CNN. “It's not about Finnish DNA. It's the way life is lived in those countries.” Jetty on a sunny summer day neat Helsinki, Finland Credit: iStockphoto/Getty Images And that same sentiment can be extended to countries geographically near Finland. Despite winters without much sunlight, Scandinavian residents are the happiest in the world, according to this report. The following most happy countries were Denmark, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands. The report, which is produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, ranks 156 countries around the globe based off of “how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.” Categories considered include wealth, life expectancy, social support, freedom to make life decisions and levels of government corruption. While Scandinavia may have reason to celebrate, the rest of the world is not so happy. According to the report, world happiness has fallen in recent years, largely driven by a significant decrease in India. Emotions like worry, sadness and anger have increased throughout Asia and Africa in that same time. The U.S.’s ranking in the survey slipped from 18 to 19, which researcher credit in large part to rampant “compulsive pursuit of substance abuse and addictive behaviors,” including consumption of digital media and gambling.<doc-sep>
America’s happiness just took another hit. On Wednesday, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an initiative of the United Nations, released its well-respected “World Happiness Report,” and, once again, Finland tops the list. The report ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be, according to their own evaluations of their lives. Finland is followed, in order, by Denmark, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada and Austria. These are countries that “consistently” rank in the top 10, the report notes. Among the reasons posited for why Nordic countries often predominate at the list include good work-life balance, generous parental leave and other policies helpful to parents, and lots of time spent in nature. The U.S. doesn’t make that top 10 — not even close. It once again fell in the rankings, dropping one spot to 19th. “The years since 2010 have not been good ones for happiness and well-being among Americans,” the report reveals. “Even as the United States economy improved after the end of the Great Recession in 2009, happiness among adults did not rebound to the higher levels of the 1990s, continuing a slow decline ongoing since at least 2000.” This may come as a surprise to many. “By most accounts, Americans should be happier now than ever. The violent crime rate is low, as is the unemployment rate. Income per capita has steadily grown over the last few decades,” writes Jean M. Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, in the report. “This is the Easterlin paradox: As the standard of living improves, so should happiness — but it has not.” Twenge highlights several “credible” explanations for American’s drop in happiness, like declines in social support, and increases in obesity and substance abuse. But she has her own explanation: “Americans are less happy due to fundamental shifts in how they spend their leisure time.” Indeed, Twenge, who studies adolescents, says that as “the amount of time adolescents spend on screen activities (especially digital media such as gaming, social media, texting, and time online) has steadily increased,” they’ve also begun “to spend less time interacting with each other in person, including getting together with friends, socializing, and going to parties.” And this, she says, has a marked impact on happiness: “Adolescents who spend more time on electronic devices are less happy, and adolescents who spend more time on most other activities are happier.” She posits that “future analyses may find that similar trends also appear among adults.” 20 happiest countries on earth 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Norway 4. Iceland 5. Netherlands 6. Switzerland 7. Sweden 8. New Zealand 9. Canada 10. Austria 11. Australia 12. Costa Rica 13. Israel 14. Luxembourg 15. United Kingdom 16. Ireland 17. Germany 18. Belgium 19. United States 20. Czech Republic It’s not just the U.S. where happiness is falling: “When you factor in population growth, world happiness has fallen in recent years, driven by the sustained downward trend in India,” the report reveals. “As for emotions, there has been a widespread recent upward trend in negative affect, comprising worry, sadness and anger, especially marked in Asia and Africa, and more recently elsewhere.”