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Finland Named Happiest Country 4th Time

Finland has been crowned the happiest country in the world for the fourth year running, the annual World Happiness Report 2021 has found.

Despite a year faced with unprecedented challenges, the Scandinavian country helped to protect the lives and livelihoods of its residents, with Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands all following close behind.

As well as looking at the usual factors supporting happiness, this year’s report also analysed how countries and their inhabitants have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic, comparing death rates across the world. While nations in East Asia, Australasia, and Africa had fairly low numbers, they were much higher in the Americas and Europe.

“We need urgently to learn from Covid-19,’ says Jeffrey Sachs, co-editor of the report. ‘The pandemic reminds us of our global environmental threats, the urgent need to cooperate, and the difficulties of achieving cooperation in each country and globally.

‘The World Happiness Report 2021 reminds us that we must aim for wellbeing rather than mere wealth, which will be fleeting indeed if we don’t do a much better job of addressing the challenges of sustainable development.’

Other Nordic countries dominating the list include Denmark, Norway and Sweden, thanks to their excellent quality of life. Elsewhere, the United Kingdom came 18th place, while China and France came 19th and 20th, respectively.

red house next to a fjord in north iceland

Iceland also made the list

Xavier ArnauGetty Images

Their research also found that, due to global lockdowns and social distancing measures, the pandemic had a significant effect on workforce wellbeing. In fact, the falling unemployment rate led to a 12 per cent drop in life satisfaction.

‘Strikingly, we find that among people who stopped work due to furlough or redundancy, the impact on life satisfaction was 40 per cent more severe for individuals that felt lonely to begin with,’ says Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, an author from the study.

‘Our report also points towards a “hybrid” future of work, that strikes a balance between office life and working from home to maintain social connections while ensuring flexibility for workers, both of which turn out to be key drivers of workplace well-being.’

Take a look at the countries in the list below…

20 of the world’s happiest countries for 2021

  1. Finland
  2. Iceland
  3. Denmark
  4. Switzerland
  5. Netherlands
  6. Sweden
  7. Germany
  8. Norway
  9. New Zealand
  10. Austria
  11. Israel
  12. Australia
  13. Ireland
  14. United States
  15. Canada
  16. Czech Republic
  17. Belgium
  18. United Kingdom
  19. China
  20. France

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