World Happiness Report 2026 released on March 20

Key facts

• The World Happiness Report 2026 was released on March 20, 2026, based on data from the Gallup World Poll covering 147 countries.
• Finland was crowned the happiest country in the world for the ninth consecutive year with an average life evaluation score of 7.764.
• The rankings are determined using the Cantril Ladder, where respondents evaluate their lives on a scale from 0 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible).
• Costa Rica ranked fourth globally, making history as the first South American country to enter the top five after climbing from 23rd place in 2024.
• Iceland and Denmark secured the second and third positions respectively, ensuring Nordic nations occupied the entire top three.
• Israel ranked eighth, becoming the only country from the Middle East to feature in the top 10 list for 2026.
• The top 10 happiest countries in 2026 are Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
• Norway, which ranked sixth, was highlighted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for having one of the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita figures in the world.
• Switzerland returned to the top 10 by climbing to the tenth position from 13th place in 2025.
• The report noted that 79 nations reported positive developments in population wellbeing between the 2006–10 baseline and the 2023–25 period.