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The 2025 UN World Happiness Report, published on Thursday, presents a complex picture regarding Israel: on one hand, the unique strengths of Israeli society are reflected in social cohesion, the quality of relationships, and the high level of support. On the other hand, there has been significant erosion in public trust in state institutions and an increase in the negative emotions experienced by the citizens.
And yet, when diving into the database, it reveals that Israel, even in one of the most difficult years in its history, again breaks all statistics and defies logic as it is ranked 8th in the world in the life satisfaction index. How is this possible?
Dr. Anat Fanti, a researcher of happiness policy in the Science, Technology and Society program at Bar-Ilan University, has an educated and reasoned explanation for why, even this year, despite the well-known personal and national hell endured within an endless internal and external war, Israel still ranked in the top 10.
The results of the 2025 report are based on the average sample from 2022 to 2024. This means there are nearly two full years between 2022 and October 2023 in which there was no war (although there was judicial overhaul nationwide protests), and these years protect Israel’s ranking and explain — beyond the fact that it is truly an incorrigibly optimistic nation — how Israel reached such a high ranking in a three-year sample, two of which were during a state of war.
“This index measures life satisfaction and reflects structural social stability, but it does not measure our emotions,” says Fanti. “Emotions are measured separately, and we will address them shortly, but the index itself is explained by six parameters: GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perception of corruption.”
In which parameters did we decline this year compared to last year, a decline that brought us from 5th place to 8th?|
“This year, we declined in life expectancy because, unfortunately, many Israelis were murdered or killed in battle. We also declined in freedom to make life choices and significantly in the ability to trust government institutions.”
And where did we improve?
“In social support and the quality of social relationships, and in generosity, which is measured by the percentage of donations to charity. GDP per capita remained fairly similar to last year’s measurement and contributes to the stability of the index. When looking at these parameters, it becomes clear why we achieved 5th place in social support among 147 countries. This is further echoed by the index measuring the number of social relationships and their quality, which was examined among young people in all countries. Israel is ranked 7th in the world in the number of social connections and 1st in the world in the quality of social connections.”
The implication, says Fanti, mainly indicates the resilience of Israeli society, “because we feel greater confidence in our ability to rely on those around us during crises, which is a critical advantage during war, distress and crises.”
Fanti recalls that in last year’s index, which was based on 2021 to 2023, young people in Israel ranked 2nd overall globally in life satisfaction. “If it weren’t for the war, we would have ranked 1st in life satisfaction among young people in Israel,” she estimates.
And the war only underscored this, of course.
“Exactly. The question that was asked to answer this section was: ‘When you are in distress, do you have someone to turn to?’ And we all know that, in Israel, there is always someone to turn to, especially in distress. We are the best at providing support during crises, and this year reflects that exactly. And generally speaking, it’s unheard of in Israel not to have someone to turn to. This is the core of Israeli existence, and therefore it doesn’t surprise me that we are ranked 5th globally in social support, which is one of the six parameters that explain our high ranking. Nor does it surprise me that we are ranked 1st this year in the quality of social connections. This is how I interpret the results Israel achieved.”
Fanti also adds that her colleagues worldwide continue to tell her that Israel is a crazy place that their model fails to fully explain. The World Happiness Index is based on life satisfaction, which is a stable measure reflecting structural characteristics such as economic strength, the level of social engagement, and the quality of health care services.
How do the effects of the war show up in the emotional indices?
“Out of 147 countries, we are ranked 120th in the positive emotions index, an improvement of three places from last year. But in the negative emotions index, we climbed from 60th place to 50th, which reflects that the last year was filled with the three emotions measured — worry, sadness and anger. In other words, over the past year, our level of negative emotions has risen significantly. We jumped 10 places in the amount of negative emotions. This is not an easy statistic. While we are not ranked 1st in negative emotions, we are on an upward trend in recent years. In the 2023 report (based on 2020–2022), we were ranked 119th. Last year, the war raised us to 60th due to the direct impact of October 7, and this year, we climbed to 50th.”
So, alongside being ranked 8th in overall life satisfaction, we are simultaneously ranked 50th in the world in the negative emotions index?
“Yes. While the overall index, as we said, is not an emotional index but one that evaluates life in general, when we look at the emotional index, it definitely reflects the current year of war and what we felt in it —worry, sadness, and anger.”
Dr. Anat FantiPhoto: Dana KoppelFanti adds that, beyond the characteristics examined in the report, the stability of Israel’s ranking can be attributed to the strengths of the Israeli people, such as family values, faith, social connections and the ability to cope with trauma — characteristics specific to Israel that protects its population even in the most difficult circumstances.
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A particularly worrying picture emerging from the report is the sharp decline in public trust in government institutions, as reflected in the corruption perception index, where Israel dropped 30 places — from 80th in 2021 to 109th this year in the level of trust the public has in government institutions. This point also echoes the results of the 2023 Social Survey in Israel, which showed a dramatic plunge in trust levels, particularly among the secular population, to an unprecedented low.
“Policymakers must work to preserve the unique strengths of the Israeli population and rebuild public trust, to ensure that life satisfaction in Israel continues to be among the highest in the world and that our negative emotions decrease to a much lower level that does not harm our mental and physical health,” says Fanti.