Finnish folk the happiest says poll - 14th April 2025

For the eighth successive year, Finland's been voted the happiest country on the planet. Scoring 7.73 out of 10 in the World Happiness Report, sponsored by the UN, it ranked above its Nordic neighbours Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.

Published by the University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre, the study requires people to assess their lives from 0-10. The scores are then averaged across a 3-year period and the resulting totals are issued annually on the 20th March, International Happiness Day.

The survey's conducted by Gallup, with more than 100,000 individuals from 140 countries being polled. Questions centre around respondents' healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity and the absence of corruption.

Additionally, this year the questionnaire focused heavily on caring and sharing and its ramifications for a sense of happiness. Apparently, for both those being looked after and for those doing the caring there was a positive outcome.

Another revelation from the survey was that strangers were actually twice as considerate as people had predicted, evaluated by intentionally misplacing people's wallets, then documenting the quantity handed in and comparing results with what people had expected. The founding editor of the report John F Helliwell commented, "People are much happier living where they think others care about each other."

"Happiness is rooted in trust, kindness and a social connection," underlined Jeffrey D Sachs, President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, something which often translates into fundamental human activities, like eating with others.

The report was originally published in 2012 on the heels of a UN General Assembly resolution called "Happiness - Towards a Holistic Definition of Development", with the intention of outlining the root causes of contentment and despair. Although the 2013 edition positioned western, economically developed countries in the top 10 spots, this year three of them were from outside this set. And this year's also seen the USA descend to 24th position, its lowest ever point, as the report revealed that over the past couple of decades, lone-dining has grown there by 54%. So to boost someone's sense of wellbeing, maybe have them over for a meal.