Greece Drops in the Rankings of the World Happiness Report

Greece has dropped in the rankings of the World Happiness Report released on Wednesday to mark the UN’s International Day of Happiness.

This year Greece dropped six places compared to 2023 and is now in 64th place among 140 nations.

The findings are powered by data from the Gallup World Poll and analyzed by some of the world’s leading well-being scientists.

Experts use responses from people in more than 140 nations to rank the world’s ‘happiest’ countries. Finland tops the overall list for the seventh successive year, though there is considerable movement elsewhere:

Serbia (37th) and Bulgaria (81st) have had the biggest increases in average life evaluation scores since they were first measured by the Gallup World Poll in 2013, and this is reflected in climbs up the rankings between World Happiness Report 2013 and this 2024 edition of 69 places for Serbia and 63 places for Bulgaria.

The next two countries showing the largest increases in life evaluations are Latvia (46th) and Congo (Brazzaville) (89th), with rank increases of 44 and 40 places, respectively, between 2013 and 2024.

Significantly, the US (23rd) has fallen out of the top 20 for the first time since the World Happiness Report was first published in 2012, driven by a large drop in the wellbeing of Americans under 30.

Afghanistan remains bottom of the overall rankings as the world’s ‘unhappiest’ nation.

For the first time, the report gives separate rankings by age group, in many cases varying widely from the overall rankings. Lithuania tops the list for children and young people under 30, while Denmark is the world’s happiest nation for those 60 and older.

In comparing generations, those born before 1965 are, on average, happier than those born since 1980. Among Millennials, evaluation of one’s own life drops with each year of age, while among Boomers life satisfaction increases with age.

“We found some pretty striking results. There is a great variety among countries in the relative happiness of the younger, older, and in-between populations. Hence the global happiness rankings are quite different for the young and the old, to an extent that has changed a lot over the last dozen years,” Prof John F. Helliwell, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, and a founding Editor of the World Happiness Report, said.

The 20 top countries in the World Happiness Report

1. Finland

2. Denmark

3. Iceland

4. Sweden

5. Israel

6. Netherlands

7. Norway

8. Luxemburg

9. Switzerland

10. Australia

11. New Zealand

12. Coast Rica

13. Kuwait

14. Austria

15. Canada

16. Belgium

17. Ireland

18. Czech Republic

19. Lithuania

20. United Kingdom

The 10 countries at the bottom of the World Happiness Report

1. Afghanistan
2. Lebanon
3. Lesotho
4. Sierra Leone
5. Congo
6. Zimbabwe
7. Botswana
8. Malawi
9. Swaziland
10. Zambia