What makes people happy? Finland has been ranked as the world’s happiest country for the eighth successive year, with experts citing access to nature and a strong welfare system as factors.

It came ahead of three other Nordic countries in this year’s UN-sponsored World Happiness Report, while Latin America’s Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time.

Both the UK and the US slipped down the list to 23rd and 24th respectively – the lowest-ever position for the latter.

The study also found strangers are about twice as kind as people think. It measured trust in strangers by deliberately losing wallets, seeing how many were returned and comparing that with how many people thought would be handed in.

The study, published by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, asked people to rate their own lives on a scale of 0-10 – zero being the worst possible life and 10 being the best possible life.

Top 10 happiest countries (2025)

Country rankings are based on a three-year average of those scores.

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
6. Costa Rica
7. Norway
8. Israel
9. Luxembourg
10. Mexico

The 2025 World Happiness Report also found:

• declining happiness and social trust in the US and parts of Europe combined to explain the rise and direction of political polarisation;
• sharing meals with others was strongly linked with wellbeing across the globe;
• household size was closely linked to happiness, with four to five people living together enjoying the highest levels of happiness in Mexico and Europe

“happiness is rooted in trust, kindness and social connection… It is up to us as virtuous individuals and citizens to translate this vital truth into positive action, thereby fostering peace, civility, and wellbeing in communities worldwide,”

Jeffrey D. Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

“In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again – doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing.”

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre

The Science of Happiness

We all have deeply personal (and different!) definitions of happiness. But here’s how scientists see it:

Sources:
• World Happiness Report 2025
• Finland named as happiest country for eighth year | by Alex Boyd and Robert Greenall (BBC March 20th, 2025)
• The Science of Happiness – visual by happify.com (2022)

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