World Happiness Index 2023: India Ranked 126th, Country Wise List
By BYJU'S Exam Prep
Updated on: November 14th, 2023
The World Happiness Index 2023 is a report that publishes articles and rankings of national happiness based on responses from respondents’ assessments of their own lives, which the report also correlates with numerous (quality of life) criteria. For the sixth year in a row, Finland has been declared the world’s happiest nation. India is ranked 126, up from 136 in 2022, when it was ranked in that position. India continues to rank below the majority of its neighbors, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Six important criteria are taken into account by the World Happiness Report 2023 that are social support, income, health, independence, generosity, and lack of corruption. The least happy country was listed as Afghanistan, followed by Lebanon, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe, in that order. We have included comprehensive information about the World Happiness Index in this post, along with the ranking of every nation.
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World Happiness Index
The World Happiness Report is a publication released annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. It ranks countries based on various factors that contribute to happiness and well-being.
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The first study conducted in 2011 included an overview of global happiness, the factors that influence pleasure and suffering, and the policy implications as illustrated by case studies. The second World Happiness Index was released in 2013, and the third in 2015. It has been released every year on March 20 to coincide with the UN’s International Day of Happiness since 2016.
World Happiness Report 2023
The World Happiness Index 2023, published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, evaluates nations based on their level of happiness. For the sixth consecutive year, Finland has held the top position due to a score that places it far above all other nations. Denmark is still in second place, with a confidence interval between that position and fourth.
Israel is now in fourth place, up five spots from the previous year, and Iceland is third. According to the Happiness Index 2023, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland are in the fifth through eighth spots.
| Rank | Country | Happiness Score |
| 1 | Finland | 7.804 |
| 2 | Denmark | 7.586 |
| 3 | Iceland | 7.530 |
| 4 | Israel | 7.473 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 7.403 |
| 6 | Sweden | 7.395 |
| 7 | Norway | 7.315 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 7.240 |
| 9 | Luxembourg | 7.228 |
| 10 | New Zealand | 7.123 |
| 11 | Austria | 7.097 |
| 12 | Australia | 7.095 |
| 13 | Canada | 6.961 |
| 14 | Ireland | 6.911 |
| 15 | UnitedStates | 6.894 |
| 16 | Germany | 6.892 |
| 17 | Belgium | 6.859 |
| 18 | Lithuania | 6.845 |
| 19 | UnitedKingdom | 6.796 |
| 20 | Lithuania | 6.763 |
Note: You can download the World Happiness Index 2023 PDF to see the full report.
India’s Rank in World Happiness Index 2023
India ranks as one of the least happy nations in the world, coming in at position 126 out of 136. As per the Happiness Index, India’s rank was 136 out of 146 nations in 2022. It even falls behind the countries that are close by, such as Nepal, China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. India frequently ranks low on the World Happiness Index despite having the fastest-growing economy in the world, which has some people wondering how it can be listed behind unstable nations.
Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, dismissed the World Happiness Index 2023, which ranked India as one of the least happy nations. When speaking with students at the RV Dental College in Bengaluru during the BJYM Yuva Samvada, Jaishankar gave the example of a Singaporean friend who once said that Indians appeared happy than Europeans.
The World Happiness Index 2023 incorrectly ranks India at 126th, according to the research paper Ecorwap from the State Bank of India. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, State Bank of India, stated in the study that she estimates India to be in the 48th place in terms of happiness and that she summarily rejects India’s ranking of 126th in the World Happiness Index as a measure of happiness.
World Happiness Index 2023 PDF
The country that generates the most optimism will be highlighted in the World Happiness Index 2023 country rank list. The index is created based on the number of people who are content with their lives and who also give to charities and help one another out during pandemics. You can download the Happiness Index 2023 PDF from the direct link given below:
Download: World Happiness Index 2023 PDF
Method of the World Happiness Index
The World Happiness Index rankings are based on a global Cantril ladder survey conducted by the polling organization Gallup, Inc. Respondents from nationally representative samples are asked to visualize a ladder with the best conceivable life represented by a 10 and the worst possible life represented by a 0. Then, on a scale of 0 to 10, they are asked to rank their own current lifestyles. The World Happiness Index report connects the outcomes of the life evaluation with numerous aspects of life.
The reports’ use of life factor variables reflects the factors that account for variations in life evaluations at the national level in the study literature. However, other factors like unemployment or inequality are not taken into account for Happiness Index because there isn’t yet comparable data accessible for all nations. Instead of providing causal estimates, the employed variables demonstrate significant correlations.
Experts from a variety of disciplines, including economics, psychology, survey analysis, and national statistics, discuss different topics in the World Happiness Index reports, including how well-being data might be used to evaluate the development of countries.
