Netherlands again ranks fifth in UN World Happiness Report

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The Netherlands has kept its 2021 title of the fifth happiest country in the world, according to the tenth annual United Nations World Happiness Report.

Finland officially ranked as having the happiest people in the world, also the case in the 2021 report. On the other end of the scale, Afghanistan ranked 146th of the 146 countries profiled.

The report was drawn up based on survey research of a representative group from each country.

Respondents ranked aspects of their own life, such as the level of satisfaction they feel. It is important to note that the report is based on the past year, so the impact the war in Ukraine has had on happiness was not measured.

Finland kept the top spot for the fifth year in a row. The country has a strong economy, healthy lifestyle, and consequently a high life expectancy, all factors influencing its happiness, according to researchers. On an emotional level, people in Finland trust each other more than in other countries.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands took fifth place in the international rankings, which researchers found was due to human resilience through the pandemic. This was one factor among others, such as a healthy economy, a high sense of personal freedom, and a low sense of corruption. Strikingly, there was only a slight dip in happiness among young people in the past year and over 60s even felt happier.

“That shows how resilient people are,” according to Meike Bartels, Professor of Genetics and Well-being at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. “Our own research showed that Dutch adults gave their life satisfaction before the pandemic an average of 7.7, and in the middle of the lockdown a 7. A significant decrease, but not huge when you consider how huge the impact of the virus and the lockdowns were on everyday life,” De Volkskrant reported.

The Netherlands is preceded by Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. These are the same five countries that topped the list in 2021, with Denmark and Iceland switching places since last year.