Pakistan has been ranked as the 75th happiest nation in the world, according to a new UN report released on Wednesday. The World Happiness Report, a landmark survey of the state of global happiness, ranked 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants.
India was ranked far lower at 134 nestled between the African nations of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger. Bangladesh has been ranked at 115, Sri Lanka 116, Bhutan 97, while war-ravaged Afghanistan is placed at 145.
Pakistan has jumped five places up from last year, while India has slipped by eleven places. This also makes Pakistan as the high ranking nation in South Asia.
Finland is the world’s happiest country while troubled Burundi is the most discontent. In addition to its joyful locals, Finland is also home to the happiest immigrants, the study found. The Nordic nation headed up the 156-country ranking, followed by last year’s winner Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland.
The United States and the United Kingdom were in 18th and 19th place, respectively. The results are based on six key factors found to support wellbeing – income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust, and generosity. The issue of migration was placed at the heart of the 2018 report, which also ranked 117 countries according to happiness of their immigrants. With a population of around 5.5 million people, Finland counted some 300,000 foreigners in 2016.
“The most striking finding of the report is the remarkable consistency between happiness of immigrants and the locally born,” said John Helliwell, co-editor of the report and a professor at the University of British Columbia. The study found that the 10 happiest countries in the overall rankings also scored highest on immigrant happiness, suggesting that migrants’ wellbeing depends primarily on the quality of life in their adopted home. “Those who move to happier countries gain, while those who move to less happy countries lose,” added Helliwell.
Published in Daily Times, March 16th 2018.
