World’s Happiest (And Saddest) Countries

lukbar/iStock

If you are globally curious, these are the 20 most happiest countries in the world, followed by the 20 least, according to the World Happiness Report Update 2016—which ranks 156 countries by their level of happiness—released Wednesday March 16 in Rome by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations.

The report is based on approximately 3,000 responses in more than 150 countries.

The report is based on approximately 3,000 responses in more than 150 countries. The respondents are evaluated by “their current lives on a ladder where 0 represents the worst possible life and 10, the best possible.” According to the report, the world as a whole median is a 5, “with the population-weighted mean being 5.4.” So here are the results:

20 most happiest countries in the world:

A group of women take a selfie in Copenhagen, Denmark. Denmark was voted the happiest place on the planet recently. william87/iStock Photos

1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Iceland
4. Norway
5. Finland
6. Canada
7. The 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

READ MORE

• Danes, Once Again, Take Top Spot in World Happiness Report

20 saddest countries in the world:

A young woman works in palm oil production in Burundi, stoking the fire under the cooking barrels. Guenter Guni/iStock Photos

1. Burundi
2. Syria
3. Togo
4. Afghanistan
5. Benin
6. Rwanda
7. Guinea
8. Liberia
9. Tanzania
10. Madagascar
11. Yemen
12. Uganda
13. Burkina Faso
14. Chad
15. South Sudan
16. Niger
17. Angola
18. Cambodia
19. Ivory Coast
20. Comoros

“Only two regions—the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean—have more unequally distributed happiness than does the world as a whole,” the report reads.

READ MORE

• Choices by US Voters Will Influence the World