The World Happiness Report was released on Monday by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, whose editors are, John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, and Shun Wang who are also independent experts.
The global life satisfaction average is ranked based on healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support, low corruption, generosity within a community. This year’s report ranked the happiness of nations and communities concerning the changes brought by technology, social norms, conflicts, and government policies.
Nations ranked at the bottom
According to the report, War-ravaged Afghanistan and Lebanon maintain their status as the two unhappiest countries in the survey, with average life evaluations over five points lower (on a scale running from 0 to 10) than in the ten happiest countries.
The report also tracked two measures of misery – the share of the population having life evaluations of 4 and below and the share rating the lives at 3 and below. Globally, both of these measures of misery came down slightly during the three COVID-19 years.
The well-being of Ukraine has severely dropped, though “the magnitude of suffering and damage in Ukraine, life evaluations in September 2022 remained higher than in the aftermath of the 2014 annexation, supported now by a stronger sense of common purpose, benevolence, and trust in Ukrainian leadership”, the report says.
In both countries, the government’s confidence grew in 2022, the survey pointed to “much more in Ukraine than in Russia.” and Ukrainian support for the Russian leadership dropped to zero.
According to this year’s report, Russia and Ukraine are ranked 70th and 92nd respectively.
