Everyone wants to be happy – so where is the best place for expats to go to enjoy their lifestyle?
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According to the latest World Happiness Report, the answer is somewhat surprising.
The answer is nowhere most people would expect – like the USA or a sandy Pacific island or a place where the sun shines.
It’s actually Denmark.
And the rest of the top five happy places are just as unlikely – Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Finland.
Most of the rest of the world would consider these countries, cold, grey and boring, but not the people who live there.
Unhappiest countries
By the way, the unhappiest places are Burundi, Africa, which is in the midst of civil and political unrest.
Other countries in the bottom five were Togo, Afghanistan, Benin and Syria.
The report was compiled by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and looked at the economy, lifestyle, freedom and corruption in156 countries, asking citizens to give marks out of 10.
“The most popular and happy countries were those with a lack of perceived social injustice, more democratic freedom and strong cultural and ethical views,” said a spokesman for the UN.
The USA sat in the middle – coming 85thbecause many people living there felt too much of a gap existed between the wealthy and the poor.
“Measuring happiness should be something that every government undertakes,” said the UN spokesman.
Money can’t buy happiness
The survey revealed wealth was not the main driver for happiness.
People wanted peace, a voice in their daily lives and somewhere they could live without fear.
The top 10 countries in the latest report are the same as in the previous report, explained the spokesman, but some countries have switched places.
In 2014, Switzerland was the happiest place to live, with Denmark second, for instance.
The other top 10 countries after Finland were Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.
“The report shows how people really feel about the place where they live,” said the spokesman. “It also goes a lot further to show the science of happiness effects lives and how measuring happiness is probably the most effective measurement of how a government or country is progressing over the years.”
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