World Happiness Report 2023

• 23 Mar 2023

Why in News?

Recently, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network released the World Happiness Report 2023 which ranks countries on happiness.

What is World Happiness Report?

• Since 2012, the World Happiness Report has been released annually around March 20^th as part of the International Day of Happiness celebration.
• The report ranks global happiness basis survey data from people in over 150 countries.
• This year, the report ranked 136 countries.
• The ranking uses six key factors to measure happiness — social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.
• Besides ranking the countries, the report also looks at the state of the world in 2023.

What about the Performance of the Countries?

• Top Performers:
  • For the sixth year in a row, Finland has been crowned as the happiest nation, Denmark is at number two, followed by Iceland at number three.
  • Unlike previous years, where the same countries tend to appear in the top 20, there’s a new entrant this year — Lithuania (at the 20^th spot).
• Worst Performers:
  • Afghanistan was ranked as the unhappiest nation, followed by Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, respectively.
• India’s Performance:
  • India ranks at 126^th position out of 136 countries, making it one of the least happy countries in the world.
    • In 2022, India ranked 136^th position out of 146 countries.
  • It even lags behind its neighbouring nations like Nepal, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

What is Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)?

• In 2012, the UN SDSN was launched under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.
• SDSN promotes integrated approaches to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, through education, research, policy analysis, and global cooperation.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q1. Which of the following is/are the indicator/ indicators used by IFPRI to compute the Global Hunger Index Report? (2016)

1. Undernourishment
2. Child stunting
3. Child mortality

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 1 and 3 only

Ans: (c)

Q2. Which of the following gives ‘Global Gender Gap Index’ ranking to the countries of the world? (2017)

(a) World Economic Forum
(b) UN Human Rights Council
(c) UN Women
(d) World Health Organization

Ans: (a)

Q3. ‘Global Financial Stability Report’ is prepared by the (2016)

(a) European Central Bank
(b) International Monetary Fund
(c) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(d) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Ans: (b)

Source:IE