Finland again is the happiest country in the world. Here’s the top -10 on the list

Business news

March 20, 2025

It’s a nice day to become a Finn –again.

For the 8th year, Finland takes number 1 in the annual report “World Happiness”. The report published on the UN International Day, based on the analysis of how residents more than 140 countries evaluate their quality of life. Of the 10, that is, someone now lives as best they can, they can imagine, the Finns first came with an average score of 7.74.

“They are rich, they are healthy, have social connections, social support, (and) connection with nature,” says Jan-Emmanuel de Nnev, professor of economics at the University of Oxford, leader of the Welfare Studies Center and the editor of the world report, “ Wealth. “They are not happy, joyful, dance on the streets of people, but they are very pleased with their lives.”

Finland was Denmark (No. 2), Iceland (No. 3), Sweden (No. 4) and the Netherlands (No. 5). While Mexico (No. 10) and Costa -Rika (No. 6) for the first time in the list of the list joined 10, the US dropped to the lowest rating. 24. Last year the USA Released from top -20 For the first time after the 2012 entrance list.

The northern countries, historically above, become happier as long as the United States becomes less happy. While GDP per capita is relatively similar in the northern countries, the US, Australia and the UK, the distribution of wealth distinguishes them.

“In these northern Scandinavian countries, the rise rise in all the boats, so the level of economic inequality is much lower, and it also reflects well-being,” says de So. “In Finland, most people will evaluate themselves as seven or eight, whereas if you look at the distribution of well-being in the States, there are many 10 years, but there are many.”

While the GDP rating per capita, the distribution of wealth and life expectancy, they have found social trust and communication, help determine happiness more than people can think.

This year, researchers have found a strong connection between those who believe in the kindness of other people and their own perceived happiness. Throughout, too often, people underestimate the kindness of others, for example, let’s say if someone returns the lost wallet. This affects welfare. The wallets return almost twice as much as people. However, compared to the US, more people in the northern countries believe that the lost wallet will be returned (and more people are likely to return it).

Maintaining a strong sense of community with such actions as regularly with others, for example, improves social trust and happiness. “The more you believe in the kindness of others, or in other words, are socially trusting, the higher your individual well-being and higher collective well-being,” says de So. “Northern countries, Scandinavian countries, do better, both in the faith in the kindness of other people and in the actual fall of the wallet.”

As for Mexico and Costa Rica, which enter the top -10 for the first in the history of the list, de soon indicating the force of social fabrics of the countries. Latin American countries have reported the largest number of total dishes and are high in social communication and trust. This helps to explain why their rating has decreased more dramatically during COVID-19 isolation (deh soon said that 13 of the 14 meals that are divided within seven days are correlated with the highest well-being).

“This is not from the highest GDP and the highest life expectancy,” says de soon about these two countries. “They spend time eating and lunch with others, have friends, and it’s not all dismantled in social media, and so we have taken it out of the data.”

The report annually publishes the Scientific and Research Center for Welfare at the University of Oxford, as well as partners, including Gallup, a network of UN Sustainable Development Decisions, and an editorial council that analyzes Pro Bono’s findings.

When de Nau dug into why Finland retained its rule, something else turned out to be, which helped them even from their northern colleagues.

“They are less satisfied,” he says. “They had less, and they have more content. So they are happier than they have.”

Here are 25 happiest countries in the world