Staff Report

Dubai – Pakistan beat India in this year’s World Happiness Report. Norway ranked top.

Pakistan ranked 80 with a score of 5.269 while Indian placed at 122 with 4.315 score. There a couple of countries ranked among top 100 countries in the report.

Renowned for its good public services and political stability, Norway can now also claim pole position as the happiest country on earth, having risen in the ranks to surpass Denmark and claim first place in this year’s World Happiness Report.

The study, which measures social factors alongside economic data, points to the limitations of financial factors in achieving happiness. Therefore, Norway vaulted ahead despite its economy being hit by the plummeting oil price, meanwhile happiness in the US continues to wain despite incomes increasing.

“This report gives evidence that happiness is a result of creating strong social foundations. It’s time to build social trust and healthy lives, not guns or walls. Let’s hold our leaders to this fact,” said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which produced the report in association with the United Nations.

Norway sped ahead from fourth place last year to steal the top spot in the annual rankings, which combine economic, health and polling data on approximately 3,000 respondents in each of more than 150 countries. It is joined in the top five by fellow Nordic states Denmark, Iceland, Finland and central Europe’s Switzerland, which averaged a comparable happiness level of 7.5 out of 10.

The Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden were also placed in the top 10.

The US’s happiness has slipped over the past year, however, the report suggests. Despite rising wages, overall happiness has fallen from 13th position globally to 14th, pointing to a need for a more comprehensive approach from government, the report suggests.