The World Happiness Report has found Finland to be the happiest country in the world, throwing Norway off its throne. This report is based on people’s “subjective well-being”, how happy they are and why. Nordic countries are typically in the top five, with Finland on top followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland respectively. War-torn countries and sub-Saharan countries typically make up the bottom five, with Burundi at the very bottom. The United States has fallen to 18th place while the UK remains at 19th. Our northern neighbor, Canada, made it into the top ten, ranking at 7th place. 

There are many factors that contribute to the World Happiness Report like life expectancy, social support, and corruption. For the first time, the World Happiness report also evaluated 117 countries based on immigrant well-being. A co-editor of the World Happiness Report stated that all the countries in the top ten scored really well in both immigrant well-being and overall happiness. Even with its long winters and extremely short days, which are often said to cause depression, Finland has come out on top this year.