The happiest & unhappiest countries in 2024

With new research naming the happiest places to live in the world, we reveal which countries came out on top and which were at the bottom.

The residents of Finland are officially the world’s happiest people in 2024, according to a new report from the United Nations and Oxford University.

The Scandinavian country topped the World Happiness Report, which includes 143 countries, for the seventh year in a row.

Famed for saunas and reindeer, the country has a population of approximately 5.6 million.

At the other end of the scale, Afghanistan came last in the ranking.

Meanwhile, happiness levels in the UK appear to be dropping as the country fell to 20^th place – down from 19^th in 2023.

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Scandinavia tops the tables

Looking at the findings, it’s impossible not to notice how well countries in Scandinavia fared.

Denmark was placed second in the rankings, which was unchanged from 2023.

Likewise, Norway took seventh place, which also remains unmoved from last year’s rating.

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The 10 happiest places to live

The least happy places to live

Unsurprisingly, many countries impacted by war or political turmoil reported low – or falling – happiness levels.

Ukraine came 105^th in the ranking, which was down from 92^nd in 2023. Meanwhile, Russia was placed 72^nd, falling two places from the previous year.

Across all regions, negative emotions were more prevalent in female respondents.

The 10 most unhappy places to live are listed below (ordered with the least happy first).

What makes people happy?

When conducting the research, scientists asked tens of thousands of participants about a range of factors that contribute to a person’s overall wellbeing.

These included earnings, health, kindness, freedom to do as they pleased, and perceived levels of government corruption.

Based on these answers over a three-year period, each country was given a happiness score from zero to 10 – with Finland scoring 7.74 and Afghanistan receiving 1.72.

For context, the UK’s score came in at 6.72.

The research also reported an increase in what it described as ‘benevolence’ following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although this was common across all age groups, Millennials and Generation Z are the most likely to help those in need.

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The happiest age groups

Breaking its findings down by age group for the first time in its history, the report found that those born before 1965 experience greater happiness levels than those born after 1980.

Lithuania is the happiest place for under-30s, while Denmark tops the list for those over 60.

The findings also revealed worrying trends among young people in some parts of the world.

In several European countries including the UK, Germany, Sweden and France, younger people were found to be significantly less happy than their older counterparts.

In fact, it was this drop in happiness levels for under-30s that caused the US to fall out of the top 20 for the first time in the report’s history.