Finland still happiest country in world; check India’s rank in 2025 report

Finland has retained its top position on The World Happiness Report for 2025 while India has slightly bettered its rank from last year’s 126th to 118th this year.

While the number of countries surveyed last year was 143, this year it was 147.

The World Happiness Report, 2025, was published on Thursday (March 20) by the Wellbeing Research Centre, University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and an independent editorial board.

Also read: Finland is world’s happiest country, but who defines 'happiness'?

Nordic countries on top

Like last year, Finland was followed by its fellow Nordic countries Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden in second, third, and fourth places respectively. Israel, which was fifth last year, slipped to the eighth position, while yet another European country, The Netherlands, replaced it in the fifth rank.

Central American country Costa Rica climbed from the 12th position last year to be placed in sixth this year, the first among the countries in the Americas. Mexico is placed in number 10.

Yet another Nordic country, Norway, is placed seventh, like last year, followed by Luxembourg in number 9.

Afghanistan remained at the bottom of the pile, preceded by Sierra Leone in 146th place and Lebanon in 145th.

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Western powers drop out of top 20

According to the authors, this year’s issue focused on the “impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness”. Accordingly, the six factors chosen to measure happiness included social support and generosity along with GDP per capita, health life expectancy, freedom, and perception of corruption.

The United States could not make it to the top 20 — dropping to its lowest ever at 24th — nor could the United Kingdom (23rd) or Germany (22nd). Australia and Canada did, though, ranking 11th and 18th, respectively. The UK’s rank was its lowest since 2017.

Also read: Agent of Happiness: A documentary dives into lives of Bhutan’s happiness score keepers

India’s unhappiness

India ranked high on social support scores thanks to its community-oriented culture and joint families. However, it lost scores on the freedom factor, which evaluated people’s perceived choices in their society and whether the choices actually lead to a satisfying life.

Among its neighbours, China was placed at 68th, Nepal at 92nd, Pakistan at 109th, Sri Lanka at 133rd, and Bangladesh at 134th.

India’s lowest rank in the report so far has been 144th in 2012, while its best was in 2022, at 94th.