Ireland fails to make top 10 in World Happiness ranking

Ireland is ranked 14th in a World Happiness report, with Finland taking the top spot for the sixth year in-a-row. 

The World Happiness Report which was released on Monday morning, measures social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and the absence of corruption to determine a country's national happiness.

This year’s Happiness Report also shows that despite several overlapping crises, most populations around the world continue to be remarkably resilient, with global life satisfaction averages in the COVID-19 years 2020-2022 just as high as those in the pre-pandemic years.

The first International Day of Happiness was celebrated 10 years ago on 20 March 2013. 

“The ultimate goal of politics and ethics should be human well-being,” said Jeffrey Sachs. “The happiness movement shows that well-being is not a ‘soft’ and ‘vague’ idea but rather focuses on areas of life of critical importance: material conditions, mental and physical wealth, personal virtues, and good citizenship. We need to turn this wisdom into practical results to achieve more peace, prosperity, trust, civility – and yes, happiness – in our societies.”

Finland remains in the top position for the sixth year in a row. Lithuania is the only new country in the top twenty, up more than 30 places since 2017. War-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon remain the two unhappiest countries in the survey, with average life evaluations more than five points lower (on a scale running from 0 to 10) than in the ten happiest countries.

The top ten countries are:

1 Finland, 2 Denmark, 3 Iceland, 4 Israel, 5 Netherlands, 6 Sweden, 7 Norway, 8 Switzerland, 9 Luxembourg, 10 New Zealand