Canada has dropped three spots in the 2025 World Happiness Report, released on March 20 to coincide with the UN’s International Day of Happiness.
The latest World Happiness Report ranks Canada as the 18th happiest country, down from 15th in 2024 and 13th in 2023.
Credit: World Happiness Report 2025
The World Happiness Report highlights the state of happiness across the world. It is based on life evaluations based on six factors from the Gallup World Poll, which asks individuals to rate their own current lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible life and zero being the worst.
The six variables the report uses to explain the variation in happiness across countries are GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption. However, the happiness rankings are not based on any index of these factors but are instead based on individuals’ assessments of their lives from 2022 to 2024.
Finland remains the world’s happiest country for the eighth consecutive year, with Costa Rica and Mexico entering the top 10 for the first time.
Meanwhile, the United States (24th) and the United Kingdom (23rd) have dropped to their lowest positions to date.
Credit: World Happiness Report 2025
The most unhappy countries are Afghanistan (rank – 147), Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi, Zimbabwe, DR Congo, and Yemen (rank – 140).
The report also explores broader social trends. Shared meals are linked to wellbeing worldwide, yet solo dining in the U.S. has risen by 53% over two decades. Household size impacts happiness, with groups of four to five people reporting the highest levels of well-being. Social isolation is on the rise, with 19% of young adults lacking support, a 39% increase since 2006.
Top twenty-five happiest countries – 2025:
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Netherlands
- Costa Rica
- Norway
- Israel
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Ireland
- Lithuania
- Austria
- Canada
- Slovenia
- Czechia
- United Arab Emirates
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Belize