Norway once ranked as the happiest country on earth in the United Nations’ annual World Happiness Report. Now it’s seventh on the list of 147 countries, and lowest among its fellow Nordic countries, but local officials think that’s still quite high in global terms.
Finland topped the list for the eighth year in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. Then came the Netherlands and Costa Rica, before Norway checked in, just ahead of Israel, Luxembourg and Mexico to round out the global top 10.
Norway’s public health institute FHI wrote in an assessment of the new UN’s World Happiness Report that Norwegians seem as satisfied with their lives as they were last year, when Norway also ranked seventh. Around 1,000 residents of Norway, along with the same number in the other countries all over the world, were asked in a Gallup World Poll to evaluate various aspects of their quality of life on a scale of one to 10. The final tally for Norwegians was 7.26, compared to Finland’s 7.74.
The most unhappy country in the world was Afghanistan, with a score of just 1.4. The US, meanwhile, fell from 11th place in last year’s ranking to 24th, with a score of 6.7.
For details of the World Happiness Report for 2025, click here (external link to the report’s own website).
NewsinEnglish.no staff