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World’s Happiest Countries: Nigeria ranks 91, Finland Comes 1st

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An Annual Survey issued today 14 March, has revealed Finland as the world’s happiest country, Burundi comes last on the list and Nigeria carries the 91st Position.

The survey also reflected that Americans were getting less happy even as their country became richer.

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The rankings by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s 2018 World Happiness checked for things such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption.

Finland rose from fifth place in 2017 to oust Norway from the top spot.

The Nordics norminated the 2018 top-10 which includes Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.

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The U S. came in at 18th, down from 14th place in 2017, Britain was 19th and the United Arab Emirates 20th.

The 170-page report also reflected emerging health problems like obesity, depression, opioid crisis, especially in the US who emerged as the leading nation with this health deformities.

While income per capita has increased markedly in the U. S. over the last half-century, the happiness index has been hit by weakened social support networks, a rise in perception of corruption in government and business and declining confidence in public institutions.

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“We obviously have a social crisis in the U. S.: more inequality, less trust, less confidence in government,” the head of the SDSN, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of New York’s Columbia University, told Reuters as the report was launched at the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

“It’s pretty stark right now. The signs are not good for the U.S. It is getting richer and richer but not getting happier.”

On how the current rankings can affect America, , Sachs said: “Time will tell, but I would say that in general that when confidence in government is low, when perceptions of corruption are high, inequality is high and health conditions are worsening … that is not conducive to good feelings.”

Finland took top honours in that category too, giving the country a statistical double-gold status.

The syrian were also least happy as they have been trodden in civil war for the past 7 years.

The most striking finding of the report is the remarkable consistency between the happiness of immigrants and the locally born,” said Prof. John Helliwell of Canada’s University of British Columbia.

“Although immigrants come from countries with very different levels of happiness, their reported life evaluations converge towards those of other residents in their new countries,” he said.

“Those who move to happier countries gain, while those who move to less happy countries lose.”