“Helping strangers, volunteering, and donations in 2021 were strongly up in every part of the world, reaching levels almost 25% above their pre-pandemic prevalence.”
Professor John Helliwell, co-author of the 10th annual World Happiness Report, on the significant findings of this year's data.
Published on
mar 25, 2022
- The World Happiness Report uses global survey data in 150+ countries to evaluate people's happiness levels and "to find the path to greater global well-being."
- 2021 findings: Finland was found to be the happiest country in the world for the 5th year in a row. Denmark came in second place, Iceland in third. The U.S. is No. 16 on the list, improving from its previous No. 19 spot. (Check out our sources for the full list of rankings.)
- Something To Consider: Countries ranking at the bottom of the report are those who "suffer from conflict and extreme poverty." Afghanistan, ranked last, with people living there, on average, measuring their quality of life as 2.4 out of 10. For reference, on average, people in the U.S. scored their quality of life as 6.98 out of 10.
Good News: This year's report provided unique insight into how people were impacted by the pandemic. The three measures of prosocial behavior — donations, volunteering and helping strangers — "all showed increases in 2021 in every global region, often at remarkable rates not seen for any of the variables we have tracked before and during the pandemic," according to the report.
Amid war and disease, World Happiness Report shows bright spot (Science Daily)
