Finland ranked top of the list, remaining as the happiest country in the world since 2017. Among the top 10 were Denmark (second), Iceland (third), Sweden (fourth), the Netherlands (fifth), Costa Rica (sixth), Norway (seventh), Israel (eighth), Luxembourg (ninth), and Mexico (tenth).
In North America, Canada ranked 18th, while the United States ranked 24th.
Afghanistan ranked last as the least happy country.
The report found that donating, volunteering, and helping strangers is connected to decreasing “deaths of despair” around the world.
Respondents were asked whether, in the last month, they gave money to charity, volunteered, or helped a stranger. They were also asked if they thought other people would help them by returning their lost wallet.
In an experiment, researchers dropped wallets on the street and found that a higher proportion of the wallets was returned than people expected, showing that people tend to be “too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities.”
When comparing the top-ranked countries this year with those in the 2013 report, it said the “industrial countries pushed out of the top ten between 2013 and 2025 include Switzerland (3 in 2013, 1 in 2015, and 13 in 2025), Canada (6 in 2013 and 18 in 2025), and Australia (10 in 2013 and 11 in 2025).”
This year marks the first time that none of the large industrial powers ranked in the top 20, the report found.
The least-happy country in 2013 was Togo, but the West African nation had risen 20 spots by this year due to a boost in the average life evaluation score.
The study noted that in the summer of 2021, over half (54 percent) of Canadians reported high levels of life satisfaction. That dropped to 50.6 percent in the summer of 2023 and continued to decline, dropping to 48.6 percent by the winter of 2024.
“Life satisfaction can be considered a pulse check on Canadians’ overall well-being,” StatCan said.
The World Happiness Report ranks countries according to their happiness scores, which are based on asking participants to “evaluate their current life as a whole.”
These life evaluations vary more between countries and “capture quality of life in a more complete and stable way than emotional reports based on daily experiences.” Six variables explain the variation in life evaluation scores across countries: having someone to count on, log GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption.
The report found that when society is more benevolent, “the people who benefit most are those who are least happy.”
It noted that benevolence increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in every region of the world.
“People needed more help and others responded. This ‘benevolence bump’ has been sustained since then. Despite a fall from 2023 to 2024, benevolent acts are still about 10% above their pre-pandemic levels,” it said.
Each year over 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories participate in the Gallup World Poll, and around 1,000 responses are gathered for each country. The World Happiness Report 2025 was published on March 20, and rankings are based on a three-year average, with data taken from 2022–2024.
