Four countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been ranked among the happiest countries in the world, according to the World Happiness Report 2022, released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
The UN-sponsored index ranked Bahrain as the happiest country in the Gulf region. However, it ranked at 21st place in the world.
Bahrain is followed by the UAE, which emerged as the second happiest country in the GCC and 24th globally. Saudi Arabia has been ranked third among the GCC countries and 25th place in the world, while Kuwait ranked fourth among the GCC countries and held the 50th rank on the list, among 150 countries around the world.
However, Oman and Qatar are absent from the 2022 report.
For the fifth year in a row, Finland has been crowned the world’s happiest country. The report coincides with the International Day of Happiness which falls on March 20.
The report has been running for 10 years and uses global survey data, as well as economic and social data from more than 150 countries around the world, to report on people’s assessment of their happiness.
Scores are given on a scale of zero to 10, and findings are based on data collected over a three-year period.
The 2022 report found that people in every global region were giving more to others by way of donations, volunteering, and helping strangers than in previous years. It also found that “life evaluations continue to be surprisingly resilient in the face of COVID-19, supported by the 2021 pandemic of benevolence.”
Ten happiest countries in the world in 2022
| Country | Rank |
| Finland | 1 |
| Denmark | 2 |
| Iceland | 3 |
| Switzerland | 4 |
| Netherlands | 5 |
| Luxembourg | 6 |
| Sweden | 7 |
| Norway | 8 |
| Israel | 9 |
| New Zealand | 10 |
At the other end of the spectrum, Afghanistan remained in last place as the unhappiest country, closely followed by Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Botswana.
