Israel was ranked the 12th happiest country in the world in 2020, according to the World Happiness Report for 2021, coming out ahead of the U.S., Britain, and Canada.
The report's top 10 happiest countries this year are Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxemburg, New Zealand, and Austria.
The report's least happy countries include Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan.
According to data from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, over 90% of Israelis say they are happy or very happy with their lives.
The "World Happiness Report" is a survey of 149 countries about the state of global happiness. This year's report was released over the weekend in Rome in advance of March 20th, the UN's World Happiness Day.
The happiness scale measures factors including gross domestic product per person, life expectancy, freedom of choice, generosity, perceptions of corruption, and social support.
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network publishes the report, an initiative of the United Nations launched in 2012 to promote sustainable development on local, national, and global scales.
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People wearing protective face masks sit during the coronavirus pandemic in Tel Aviv's Dizengof Square
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
Leading experts across fields – economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, health, public policy and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be effectively used to assess national progress.
Conducted amidst the global coronavirus pandemic, only small changes were perceived.
"Surprisingly there was not, on average, a decline in well-being when measured by people's own evaluation of their lives," said Professor John F. Helliwell of the University of British Columbia, one of the report’s editors.
"One possible explanation is that people see COVID-19 as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and fellow feeling."