Indian Society
UN World Happiness Report- 2020
- 21 Mar 2020
- 2 min read
Why in News
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations released the World Happiness Report on 20th March, 2020.
- March 20 was designated as the World Happiness Day by the UN General Assembly in 2012.
About the World Happiness Report
- The World Happiness Report ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
- The rankings are based on polling (Gallup World Poll) which looks at six variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.
- The 2020 Report for the first time ranked cities around the world by their subjective well-being and looked into how the social, urban and natural environments combine to affect happiness.
Highlights From the Report
- Top Performers
- Finland is ranked as the world’s happiest nation for the third consecutive year.
- Nordic states dominated the top 10, along with countries such as Switzerland, New Zealand and Austria.
- Luxembourg edged into the 10th spot for the first time this year.
- Worst Performers
- The countries at the bottom are those afflicted by violent conflicts and extreme poverty, with Zimbabwe, South Sudan and Afghanistan classified as the world’s least happy nations.
- India’s Performance
- India, previously ranked at 140 dropped to 144.
- Its rank is way lower than its neighbours. Nepal is ranked 92, Pakistan is at 66, Bangladesh at 107 and Sri Lanka at 130.
- India is a new entrant to the bottom-fifteen group.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network
- The SDSN, launched in 2012, mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical problem solving for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
- It was established under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary-General.
- The SDSN and the Bertelsmann Stiftung have been publishing the annual SDG Index & Dashboards Global Report since 2016.
