Nigeria has been ranked 118th out of 146 happiest countries globally, declining two spots from its position last year.
The country’s score is lower than 20 African countries. Mauritius ranked number one in Africa at 52, Libya ranked 86 in the world, and second in Africa.
World Happiness Report is a publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, powered by the Gallup World Poll data. The 2022 report uses global survey data to report how people evaluate their lives in more than 150 countries worldwide, revealing a bright light in dark times.
According to the report, the top 20 countries in Africa who ranked more than Nigeria include: South Africa (91), Gambia (93), Algeria (96), Liberia (97), Congo (99), Morocco (100), Mozambique (101), and Cameroon (102), Ivory Coast (88) and Ghana(93).
Other countries not in the top 20 but outranked Nigeria in happiness are Cameroon(89), Senegal(90), Niger(94), Gambia(96), Benin(97), Guinea(100), and Burkina Faso (111).
The index ranked Sierra Leone (140), Lesotho (141), Botswana (142), Rwanda (143), and Zimbabwe (144) respectively as the top 5 unhappiest countries in the world.
Top 20 Happiest Countries in the World
The index report scores are based on GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceptions of corruption and confidence intervals.
For the fifth time in a row, Finland is the happiest country in the world. The remaining countries that take up the top 20 spot includes: Denmark (2), Iceland (3), Switzerland(4), Netherlands(5), Luxembourg(6), Sweden(7), Norway(8), Israel(9), New Zealand(10), Austria(11), Australia(12), Ireland(13), Germany(14), Canada(15), United States(16), United Kingdom(17), Czech Republic(18), Belgium(19), and France(20) respectively.
Lebanon and Afghanistan were ranked the unhappiest countries globally, maintaining 145 and 146 positions, respectively.
Happiness, benevolence, and trust during COVID-19 and beyond
The report states that happiness rankings explore trends over the past ten years and provide a deeper examination of general emotions, behaviour, and life during 2020 and 2021.
Based on the data, young people’s life satisfaction has fallen, while for those over 60, it has risen. Worry and stress have increased – by 8% in 2020 and 4% in 2021 compared with pre-pandemic levels.
On the positive side, the report indicated a remarkable change seen during Covid-19, the global upsurge in benevolence in 2021. “In every global region, there have been large increases in the proportion of people who give money to charity, help strangers, and do voluntary work in every global region. This benevolence has provided notable support for the life evaluations of givers, receivers, and observers, who have been gratified to see their community’s readiness to reach out to help each other in times of need.”