society
World happiness report: Finland ahead – Germany in 14th place
Where do the happiest people live? The World Happiness Report provides answers to a difficult question. Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Defining happiness is not easy. The new World Happiness Report also focuses on people’s willingness to help.
Finland has been named the country with the happiest population for the fifth consecutive year. This emerges from the World Happiness Report published on Friday, which this time again takes a look at the effects of the Corona crisis on people’s well-being.
In the report, which is compiled annually by scientists in the USA based on surveys by the Gallup Institute, Germany comes in 14th place and thus loses one place.
Many people are helpful
After the lucky Finns come Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Holland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and New Zealand. Austria is in 11th place, followed by Canada in 15th place and the USA in 16th place. At the bottom of the list with more than 150 countries is conflict-torn Afghanistan. Other big losers include troubled Lebanon and Venezuela. In contrast, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania made the biggest leaps forward. The report is based on data from the past three years.
The scientists noted a significant increase in so-called acts of kindness during the pandemic: “Helping strangers, volunteering and donations had risen sharply in all parts of the world in 2021, reaching levels almost 25 percent above their pre-pandemic levels “, it was said. This shows that in times of need, people responded with empathy and would help those in need.