Indians Are Way Less Happy Than Their Neighbours, Shows World Happiness Report

Those living in India are not as happy now as they used to be last year or the year before last year, for that matter. According to the United Nation’s World Happiness Report that was released on March 20 to mark the World Happiness Day, India fell seven spots in the ranking in 2019 to claim the 140^th position in a list of 156 nations.  India ranked 132nd in 2018, 122nd in 2017 and 118^th in 2016. 

India’s neighbours seem to be doing comparatively well, with Pakistan (67), China (93), Bhutan (95), Nepal (100), Bangladesh (125) and Sri Lanka (130) all towering above it.

Interestingly, Pakistan is among the top 20 gainers which showed average ladder scores increasing 0.7 points while India was among the 20 largest losers, which show ladder reductions exceeding about 0.5 points. India, in fact, is also responsible for an overall drop in world happiness over the past few years, the report indicates.

The UN's seventh annual World Happiness Report, which ranks the countries on how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be, rates them on six key variables that support well-being. These include income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity.

The happiest of the lot

Finland has been able to retain its position as the happiest country to be in the world in this year’s list while Denmark, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands follow it at second, third, fourth and fifth positions.  

The unhappiest of the lot

People in torn South Sudan are the unhappiest with their lives, followed by Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Tanzania and Rwanda.

 Somewhere in the middle

Among the world super powers, the United Kingdom, with its 15^th ranking, has got the highest spot while Germany and the United States follow it on 17th and 19th positions, respectively. Japan has found the 58^th spot in this year’s ranking while Russia is places at the 68^th spot, right below Pakistan.

The Unites States Emirates (21st) is the happiest country to live in West Asia while Singapore (34th) is the happiest country to live in Asia, according to the report.

Most accepting countries for migrants

While Iceland is the world’s most accepting nation to immigrants, Egypt is the least accepting to them. The US and Canada are among the countries that are most accepting to immigrants while Greece and Turkey  are among the countries that are least welcoming to them.

Migrant Acceptance Index