This article is more than 1 year old

Bloody Danes top world happiness league

US takes 13th spot, Blighty 23rd, and pity Burundi at 157th

If you're feel a bit glum, then get yourself off to Denmark, which has secured top spot in the 2016 World Happiness Report.

Based on responses to the Gallup World Poll, in which people were asked to rate their existence on a scale of one to 10, the Danes scored a heart-warming 7.526. Switzerland was only marginally less happy, with 7.509, and Iceland, which registered 7.501.

The rest of the top ten comprises:

  1. Norway (7.498)
  2. Finland (7.413)
  3. Canada (7.404)
  4. Netherlands (7.339)
  5. New Zealand (7.334)
  6. Australia (7.313)
  7. Sweden (7.291)

The US of A scored a creditably upbeat 7.104 to take 13th spot, while Blighty struggled to raise a convincing smile with 6.725 in 23rd place.

Mind you, the UK's score is positively full of joie de vivre compared with those nations languishing in the league table's slough of despond:

  1. Benin (3.484)
  2. Afghanistan (3.360)
  3. Togo (3.303)
  4. Syria (3.069)
  5. Burundi (2.905)

Overall, the 2016 results (full details available for download here) aren't much different from last year's (PDF), when Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark topped the table, the US and UK were 15th and 21st respectively, and Syria, Burundi and Togo were left propping up less miserable countries.

Apparently, the World Happiness Report "reflects growing global interest in using happiness and subjective well-being as primary indicators of the quality of human development".

The blurb adds: "Because of this growing interest, many governments, communities and organizations are using happiness data, and the results of subjective well-being research, to enable policies that support better lives." ®

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