About the World Happiness Report 2022
On 19 July 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution 65/309, “Happiness: Towards a holistic approach to development.” This resolution called on national governments to “give more importance to happiness and wellbeing in determining how to achieve and measure social and economic development.”
The following year, the first World Happiness Report was released. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the report, which is released every year around March 20th to align with International Day of Happiness celebrations.
“A decade ago, governments around the world expressed the desire to put happiness at the heart of the global development agenda, and they adopted a UN General Assembly resolution for that purpose. The World Happiness Report grew out of that worldwide determination to find the path to greater global well-being. Now, at a time of pandemic and war, we need such an effort more than ever. And the lesson of the World Happiness Report over the years is that social support, generosity to one another, and honesty in government are crucial for well-being. World leaders should take heed. Politics should be directed as the great sages long ago insisted: to the well-being of the people, not the power of the rulers,” said report co-author Jeffrey Sachs about the origin and purpose of the report.
The report uses global survey data to report how people evaluate their own lives in more than 150 countries worldwide. The report authors then assess the extent to which six key variables contribute to explaining life evaluations: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.
The World Happiness Report 2022 – benevolence and trust
The World Happiness Report 2022 reveals a bright light in dark times. The pandemic brought not only pain and suffering but also an increase in social support and benevolence. As we battle the ills of disease and war, it is essential to remember the universal desire for happiness and the capacity of individuals to rally to each other’s support in times of great need.
Past reports have looked at the links between people’s trust in government and institutions with happiness. The findings demonstrate that communities with high levels of trust are happier and more resilient in the face of a wide range of crises.
This year’s report, which comes yet again in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, also focused on benevolence. “COVID-19 is the biggest health crisis we’ve seen in more than a century,” said co-author John Helliwell. “Now that we have two years of evidence, we are able to assess not just the importance of benevolence and trust, but to see how they have contributed to well-being during the pandemic.”
A central finding in this year’s report continues to be the extent to which the quality of the social context, especially the extent to which people trust their governments and have trust in the benevolence of others, leads to higher happiness levels. This supported and maintained people’s happiness before and during the pandemic, and the report authors believe this will continue to support people’s happiness after the pandemic.
Countries where people trusted their governments and each other experienced lower COVID-19 death tolls and set the stage for maintaining or rebuilding a sense of common purpose to deliver happier, healthier and more sustainable lives. This forward-looking part permits an optimistic tinge based on the remarkable growth in prosocial activities during 2021.
“We found during 2021 remarkable worldwide growth in all three acts of kindness monitored in the Gallup World Poll. Helping strangers, volunteering, and donations in 2021 were strongly up in every part of the world, reaching levels almost 25% above their pre-pandemic prevalence. This surge of benevolence, which was especially great for the helping of strangers, provides powerful evidence that people respond to help others in need, creating in the process more happiness for the beneficiaries, good examples for others to follow, and better lives for themselves,” said Helliwell.
The happiest countries in the world
For the fifth year in a row, Finland took the number one spot as the happiest country in the world – significantly expanding its lead ahead of other countries in the top ten. Denmark was second and Iceland moved to third from fourth while Switzerland dropped to fourth. The list is rounded out by the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and New Zealand.
- Finland (7.821)
- Denmark (7.636)
- Iceland (7.557)
- Switzerland (7.512)
- Netherlands (7.415)
- Luxembourg (7.404)
- Sweden (7.384)
- Norway (7.365)
- Israel (7.364)
- New Zealand (7.200)
The next five are Austria, Australia, Ireland, Germany and Canada. This marks a substantial fall for Canada, which was 5th ten years ago. Overall, the three countries with the biggest gains were Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. The biggest losses were in Lebanon, Venezuela, and Afghanistan.
Co-author Jan-Emmanuel De Neve said, “At the very bottom of the ranking we find societies that suffer from conflict and extreme poverty, notably we find that people in Afghanistan evaluate the quality of their own lives as merely 2.4 out of 10. This presents a stark reminder of the material and immaterial damage that war does to its many victims and the fundamental importance of peace and stability for human wellbeing.”
Read the full report: World Happiness Report 2022
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