As per 2019 Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world, with Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland holding the next top positions. The World Happiness Report 2018 ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants.
According to the report Kenyans are the happiest people in East Africa after ranking at position 121 out of 156 countries assessed. Uganda comes second at position 136, as Rwanda and Tanzania trail at 153 and 154 respectively.
Ravaged by civil war and epidemic hunger, South Sudanese are the saddest people of all replacing Burundi which initially held position 156.
Despite the oil business giving the youngest country in the continent hope; frequent political instability seems to have influenced the results making it the most awful country to live in.
Libyans are the happiest leading other Africans but ranked at position 72 globally.
Despite the nagging problem of Boko Haram militia carrying out attacks in its northern frontier, Nigeria comes second in African continent and at position 85. Algeria which is on power transition closes the bracket of the list of top three happy countries in Africa though at position 88 globally.
Kenya, which regarded as East Africa’s economic powerhouse, has climbed three places from position 124 in 2017 to 121 in 2018.
In the Kenya case, an improvement on the rank can be attributed to the increase in the country’s GDP, social support, life expectancy and the freedom to make choices.
However, Kenyan respondents equally registered complaints of dictatorial tendencies which has pulled down country’s scores in the global index.
The report is an acknowledgement that GDP, household income and unemployment data do not tell us anything about happiness.
“This means that leaders can no longer assume that the lives of those in their countries improve with a rise in GDP, as was shown in the Arab Uprising countries where GDP was increasing but the ratings of their lives trended downward ahead of the unrest,” the report said.
“Leaders need to follow much more traditional metrics to effectively track and lead the progress of their nation.”
Finland is at the top of both rankings in this report, with the happiest immigrants, and the happiest population in general. While convergence to local happiness levels is quite rapid, it is not complete, as there is a ‘footprint’ effect based on the happiness in each source country.