Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.
Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.
Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness —the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.
I was actually wondering about that. Finland keeps getting this high ranking, so at what point do the Finnish people feel obligated to maintain that reputation when they answer these surveys? For at least a few people, I’d imagine it becomes a small point of pride.
There’s been actually a huge counter-reaction to this, with people rushing to say how the ranking must be bullshit. I’d imagine that at least outweighs that potential pride effect. It was PISA we used to cherish.
I’m curious about what might have changed. Has there been a quality of life change or a perceptual change?
For the happiness thing, it’s been that way for a long time. i think part of it is just us being terrible at appreciating good news hah. For PISA it’s that our ranking has been dropping so now it’s not cherished but just painful.