Charted: The Happiest Countries In the World 2025
The 2025 World Happiness Report is out, and Finland has once again topped the list. It’s the eighth straight year the Nordic country has claimed the number one stop. Following Finland are fellow Nordic countries Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden, whose rankings remain unchanged from the year before. These four countries have consistently ranked in the top 10 since the first World Happiness Report was released in 2012. European countries dominate the top of the charts with 13 out of the top 20 happiest countries coming from this region. Afghanistan was once again at the bottom of the list. Its average life evaluation score dropped the most from the previous year from 1.721 to 1.364, the lowest score ever recorded by any country. Meanwhile, Lesotho saw the biggest increase going from 3.186 in 2023 to 3.757 in 2024. However, it still ranks near the bottom of the list.
There were 143 countries and territories included in both the 2025 and 2024 reports. Among them, 87 countries, or 60%, reported improvements in their average life experience scores compared to the year before, while 53 countries reported scores that dipped lower than last year’s. Three countries — Luxembourg, Cambodia, and Yemen — recorded no change. Explore the map below to see where countries rank.
How have scores and rankings shifted since 2020?
The number of countries and territories surveyed each year varies. Some geographies with smaller or inaccessible populations may be surveyed less frequently due to the costs of conducting the polls.
From 2020 to 2024, 131 countries and territories were included in all reports. Generally, it appears that people are becoming happier. Over half (52%) of the geographies surveyed reported higher average life experience scores in 2024 than in 2020. The median score for this group increased to 5.87 in 2024 from 5.723 in 2020. Algeria had the sharpest increase, rising from 4.887 in 2020 to 5.571 in 2024. Meanwhile, Lebanon saw the steepest decline, dropping 1.396 points from 4.584 in 2020 to 3.188 in 2024.
From 2020 to 2024, there were significant changes in the rankings. Mexico moved up 27 places to join the top 10 in 2024. Algeria rose 26 spots, going from 110 to 84. The top five gainers were Lithuania with a 23-spot increase, and India and Namibia, each climbing 22 spots. Meanwhile, Bahrain had the sharpest decline, dropping 36 spots from 23 to 59. Jamaica fell 35 spots from 38th place to 73rd. The top five decliners include Bangladesh (down 32 spots), Ghana (down 29 spots), and Mauritius and Cypurs, both of which dropped 27 places.
Methodology of the World Happiness Report
The World Happiness Report is published annually by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and an independent Editorial Board.
The Report focuses on global wellbeing and how to improve it. It combines wellbeing data from over 140 countries and combines it with analysis by leading researchers across various academic disciplines. The global happiness ranking is based on responses to a single question on the World Gallup Poll on life evaluation that uses the "Cantril Ladder", asking respondents to rate their lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst and 10 the best possible life. The number of people and countries surveyed each year varies, but in general more than 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories participate in the World Gallup Poll each year. To give a better estimate of the average life evaluation in each country, the report combines responses from the last three years. For instance, the 2025 rankings use data from 2022 to 2024.
