Australia is at 10th place in the World Happiness Report 2018. It has slipped position with Sweden which is now in 9th place.
The top position is secured by Finland. Norway is in the second place followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and then New Zealand at 8th.
Bangladesh is 115th in the ranking of happiness 2015-2017.
The World Happiness Report 2018 was released on 14 March at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican. This report ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants. World Happiness Day at the United Nations will be celebrated on March 20th.
Based on the available data from 117 countries, Finland’s immigrants are also the happiest immigrant population in the world.
All the top countries have high values for the six variables found to support well-being: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity.
The overall rankings of country happiness are based on the pooled results from Gallup World Poll surveys from 2015-2017.
Australia ranks 7th in the world for the most-accepting countries for migrants. Bangladesh is number 18 in that list.
Happiness of immigrants also considered by this report. It includes four chapters on migration, both internal (within-country) and international (cross-country). Happiness of migrants, their families left behind and others living in the cities and countries receiving migrants are also investigated in this report.
“the ten happiest countries in the overall rankings also fill ten of the top eleven spots in the ranking of immigrant happiness. Finland is at the top of both rankings in this report, with the happiest immigrants, and the happiest population in general.”
It is also noticed that, the happiness of immigrants depends predominantly on the quality of life where they now live. Happiness can change, and does change, according to the quality of the society in which people live. Immigrant happiness, like that of the locally born, depends on a range of features of the social fabric, extending far beyond the higher incomes traditionally thought to inspire and reward migration.
The countries with the happiest immigrants are not the richest countries, but instead the countries with a more balanced set of social and institutional supports for better lives.
The report was produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) with the support of the Ernesto Illy Foundation. This is edited by Professor John F. Helliwell of the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; Professor Richard Layard, co-director of the Well-Being Programme at LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance; and Professor Sachs, director of SDSN.
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