India up 10 in Happiness Index, Finland tops 6th time

India's position in the world's happiest country index has improved. India, which was earlier at the 136th position, has now climbed 10 positions to the 126th position. Meanwhile, Finland topped the index for the sixth consecutive year and was named the world's happiest country.

India's position has improved from the 2022 index, where it was ranked 136th. However, neighboring countries including Pakistan and Sri Lanka were ranked 108th and 112th respectively. The announcement was made at the annual UN-sponsored event on Monday, where acts of kindness grew in Ukraine despite the Russian invasion, which continues a year later.

Finland has endless stretches of forests and thousands of lakes that underline the country's aesthetics. However, the Nordic country is known for its extensive welfare system, high trust in the authorities and low levels of inequality among its 5.5 million citizens. Meanwhile, Ukraine's ranking rose from 98 to 92 this year despite being challenged by Russia. His overall score dropped from 5.084 to 5.071 on a scale of 0 to 10.

Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, editor of the report, said there had been an "extraordinary increase in belonging" in Ukraine despite what the report called "the magnitude of suffering and damage in Ukraine" since the 2022 invasion. Last year, "philanthropy surged in Ukraine but fell in Russia," the report said, referring to acts such as helping strangers or donating. The report also cited "a much stronger sense of common purpose, forbearance and trust in Ukrainian leadership" than after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Northern Europe once again dominated the top spots — with Denmark in second place, followed by Iceland. Israel took fourth place, up five places from last year. Meanwhile, the same nations usually at the top of the list every year, the Baltic countries are growing rapidly towards the Western European level, the authors said.

Lithuania knocked France out of 20th place to become the only new country in the top 20 with Estonia at 31st, up from 66 in 2017. War-torn Afghanistan, which has been at the bottom of the table since 2020, has seen its humanitarian crisis deepen since the government took power Taliban in 2021 after the withdrawal of the US-led military.

First published in 2012, the World Happiness Report is based on people's self-reported happiness as well as economic and social data. The report considers six key factors: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and absence of corruption. It assigns a happiness score based on the average of data over a three-year period.