United Nations SDSN publishes “World Happiness Report 2021”

What is the News?

World Happiness Report 2021 has been released. The report evaluated levels of happiness by accounting factors such as GDP, social support, personal freedom, and levels of corruption in each nation.

 About The World Happiness Report:

• The World Happiness Report is an annual report published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network(SDSN).
• The report ranks countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
• The World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared.

Parameters: The survey used the Gallup World Poll. The poll asked people to vote on three indicators:

• Firstly, Life Evaluations: Under this, people were asked to evaluate their current life using the image of a ladder. The best possible life for them is rated at 10 and the worst possible at 0.
• Secondly, Positive Emotions: Under this, respondents were asked whether they smiled or laughed a lot the previous day. An affirmative response is coded as a 1 while a negative response is coded as 0.
• And lastly, Negative Emotions: Under this, people were asked whether they have experienced negative emotions such as worry, sadness, and anger a lot on the same day.

Key Findings Related to India:

• India has been ranked 139 out of 149 countries in the World Happiness Report 2021.
• In 2020, India was ranked 144 out of 156 countries.

Other Key Findings of the World Happiness Report 2021:

• Finland ranked as the happiest country in the world for the fourth consecutive year.
• It was followed by Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, and Norway.
• Afghanistan(149) is the most unhappy country. Zimbabwe (148), Rwanda (147), Botswana (146), and Lesotho (145) followed it.

Source: Indian Express