The surprising list of the happiest countries in the world

Vatican

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22/03/2016

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The latest report on World Happiness 2016 indicates that the happiest countries in the world are Denmark, Switzerland and Iceland.

What do they have in common? It's not only about money. According to some authors of the report, other aspects are also assessed, such as social support their inhabitants receive or the generosity they experience.

JOHN HELLIWELL
University of British Columbia
'People are asked all over the world not just 'are you happy?' the emotion, like I ask you, but to think of your life as a ladder with the worst possible life as a 0 and the best as a 10. How would you rate your life today?â?
'And in the World Happiness Report we not only report those answers, but we try to explain what makes people happier in some countries than others.â?

Some of the experts who worked on the report explained the keys in a forum called 'The Courtyard of the Gentiles,' organized by the Vatican. Jeffrey Sachs, who has twice been named among the 100 most influential people in the world, spoke before hundreds of young students. He said it is important to understand that is not selfish to claim personal happiness, but to be full, it should be shared with someone else. No one can be happy if they are alone.

JEFFREY SACHS
University of Columbia
'What does it mean? We must, of course, look out for our own interests; but we aren't even human beings if we're not looking after the interest of others. If we're not living that philosophy today, now, when would we?â?

Jeffrey Sachs also collaborated with Pope Francis on the last encyclical, Laudato si'. He told the students his impressions of the Argentine Pope.

JEFFREY SACHS
University of Columbia
'His first message to the world was called Evangelii Gaudium. Gaudium, of course, Latin for joy. He used a phrase in Envangelii Gaudium that I think is the most important phrase that I know about the real state of life in our world today. He called it globalization of indifference, that we have a world of indifference where it is indifference that has been globalized.'

The report notes that there are other key factors to happiness such as family, friends or work.

The factor that promotes unhappiness, of course, is war. It is no wonder that Syria, for example, is the penultimate on the list and Burundi comes in last.

Ranking of Happiness

1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Iceland
4. Norway
5. Finland
6. Canada
7. Netherlands
8. New Zealand
9. Australia
10. Sweden
11. Israel
12. Austria
13. United States
14. Costa Rica
15. Puerto Rico
16. Germany
17. Brazil
18. Belgium
19. Ireland
20. Luxembourg
21. Mexico
22. Singapore
23. United Kingdom
24. Chile
25. Panama
26. Argentina
27. Czech Republic
28. United Arab Emirates
29. Uruguay
30. Malta
31. Colombia
32. France
33. Thailand
34. Saudi Arabia
35. Taiwan
36. Qatar
37. Spain
38. Algeria
39. Guatemala
40. Suriname
41. Kuwait
42. Bahrain
43. Trinidad and Tobago
44. Venezuela
45. Slovakia
46. El Salvador
47. Malaysia
48. Nicaragua
49. Uzbekistan
50. Italy
51. Ecuador
52. Belize
53. Japan
54. Kazakhstan
55. Moldova
56. Russia
57. Poland
58. South Korea
59. Bolivia
60. Lithuania
61. Belarus
62. North Cyprus
63. Slovenia
64. Peru
65. Turkmenistan
66. Mauritius
67. Libya
68. Latvia
69. Cyprus
70. Paraguay
71. Romania
72. Estonia
73. Jamaica
74. Croatia
75. Hong Kong
76. Somalia
77. Kosovo
78. Turkey
79. Indonesia
80. Jordan
81. Azerbaijan
82. Philippines
83. China
84. Bhutan
85. Kyrgyzstan
86. Serbia
87. Bosnia and Herzegovina
88. Montenegro
89. Dominican Republic
90. Morocco
91. Hungary
92. Pakistan
93. Lebanon
94. Portugal
95. Macedonia
96. Vietnam
97. Somaliland region
98. Tunisia
99. Greece
100. Tajikistan
101. Mongolia
102. Laos
103. Nigeria
104. Honduras
105. Iran
106.Zambia
107. Nepal
108. Palestinian Territories
109.Albania
110. Bangladesh
111. Sierra Leone
112. Iraq
113. Namibia
114. Cameroon
115. Ethiopia
116. South Africa
117. Sri Lanka
118. India
119. Myanmar
120. Egypt
121. Armenia
122. Kenya
123. Ukraine
124. Ghana
125. Congo (Kinshasa)
126. Georgia
127. Congo (Brazzaville)
128. Senegal
129. Bulgaria
130. Mauritania
131. Zimbabwe
132. Malawi
133. Sudan
134. Gabon
135. Mali
136. Haiti
137. Botswana
138. Comoros
139. Ivory Coast
140. Cambodia
141. Angola
142. Niger
143. South Sudan
144. Chad
145. Burkina Faso
146. Uganda
147. Yemen
148. Madagascar
149. Tanzania
150. Liberia
151. Guinea
152. Rwanda
153. Benin
154. Afghanistan
155. Togo
156. Syria
157. Burundi