• Thursday, 09 January 2025

N. Macedonia ranks 87th in World Happiness Report

N. Macedonia ranks 87th in World Happiness Report

Skopje, 20 March 2023 (MIA) – North Macedonia ranked 87th out of 137 countries in the annual UN-sponsored World Happiness index. According to the report, our country is ranked last among Balkan countries and among the unhappiest countries in Europe.

The World Happiness Report, now in its 11th year, is based on people's own assessment of their happiness, as well as economic and social data.

It assigns a happiness score on a scale of zero to 10, based on an average of data over a three-year period, and our country ranked average score of 5,254.

North Macedonia's neighbours rank as follows: Slovenia – 22nd, Kosovo – 34th, Serbia - 45th; Croatia – 48th, Greece – 58th; Montenegro – 67th, Bosnia and Herzegovina – 71st, Bulgaria – 77th and Albania – 83rd.

Finland tops the list for a sixth year in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg and New Zealand.

The annual report ranked Afghanistan as last among 149 countries surveyed, with a happiness rate of just 2.5. Lebanon was the world’s second saddest country, with Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe rounding out the bottom five.

The first World Happiness Report was published in 2012, more than ten years ago. Since then, the UN has published an annual list of the world's happiest nations, or the places where people are, on average, happier than in other places.

This study, which is published today, i.e., March 20, 2023 - World Happiness Day - considers six important variables that have a bearing on happiness: social support, money, health, independence, generosity, and the absence of corruption.

The World Happiness Report is published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network to the United Nations (UN).