International Day of Happiness observed on 20 March 2026 with theme Social Media & Happiness

Key facts

• The International Day of Happiness 2026 is observed on Friday, 20 March 2026, with the theme Social Media & Happiness.
• The United Nations (UN) organises the day in partnership with Action for Happiness and the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.
• The observance was proclaimed through UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 66/281 on 12 July 2012 and was first observed on 20 March 2013.
• The philosophical origin of the day traces to Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) framework, introduced by King Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1972.
• Jayme Illien, a UN advisor and founder of the happytalism economic philosophy, led the advocacy campaign that resulted in the adoption of the UN resolution.
• Finland retained its position as the world’s happiest country for the ninth consecutive year in 2026 with a Cantril Ladder score of 7.741.
• The top five happiest countries in the 2026 rankings are Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
• The World Happiness Report (WHR) 2026 is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
• The report uses the Cantril Ladder, a self-anchoring scale from 0 to 10, to rank countries based on a three-year average of Gallup World Poll responses.
• Six variables used to explain happiness scores include GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption.
• The 2026 report incorporates WELLBYs (Well-Being-Adjusted Life Years), a metric developed at the London School of Economics (LSE), as a policy evaluation unit.
• The 2026 theme framework includes the Choose, Connect, Curate model and the secondary pillars of Keep Calm, Stay Wise, Be Kind.