Finland once again leads the World Happiness Report, released this Wednesday (20), which measures social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and absence of corruption to determine a country's happiness.
Finland tops the list for the seventh year in a row, closely followed by Denmark and Iceland.
Brazil took the 44th place, behind only Uruguay (26th) and Chile (38th) in South America.
Top 10 “happiest countries”
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Luxembourg
- Switzerland
- Australia
Director of the Center for Wellbeing Research at the University of Oxford and editor of the World Happiness Report, Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, said that among the factors that contribute to people's well-being are GDP per capita, distribution of wealth, a welfare state that provides psychological stability and a healthy life expectancy.
According to the report, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain are countries where the elderly are now significantly happier than the young, while Portugal and Greece show the opposite pattern.
Happiness among young people, ages 15 to 24, also fell sharply in North America, while Central and Eastern Europe saw the biggest increases.
The report stated that happiness had declined in the Middle East and North Africa, with greater declines for those in the middle-aged groups than for the elderly and young.
War-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon remain the two unhappiest countries in the report.
The first World Happiness Report from the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which is a global initiative of the United Nations, was published in 2012.
Source: CNN Brasil
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