Despite dropping 2 places from 2018 report, Israel’s ‘happiness ranking’ has improved overall during past decade, placing higher than Britain, Germany, and the U.S.
• South Sudan, Afghanistan, Central African Republic ranked last.
By Erez Linn
Israelis remain some of the happiest people in the world, according to the U.N. World Happiness Report 2019, published Wednesday.
The latest happiness report ranked Israel the 13th-happiest country in the world, a slight drop from last year’s report, which placed Israel at No. 11.
Friends enjoying Saturday night dinner & drinks, by the Hatzbani River in northern Israel. – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP
According to the report, the happiness nation in the world is Finland, followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Austria, Australia, Costa Rica, and then Israel.
Israel was ranked above Britain (No. 15); Germany (17); and the U.S. (19). The lowest-ranked country in the report was south Sudan.
The 2019 report covers the years 2016-2018 and was compiled using questionnaires distributed to representative samples of the population in each country surveyed.
Respondents were asked to rank their lives on a scale of 0-10. Israel received an average “grade” of 7.139, compared to 7.769 for Finland.
South Sudan, Afghanistan, and the Central African Republic – the lowest-ranked countries on the list – all scored below 4.
Despite the drop from last year’s report, Israel’s overall level of happiness has improved over the past decade, rising 0.045 points from the happiness scores Israeli gave their country in 2005-2008.
View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/03/21/israel-one-of-the-happiest-countries-in-the-world-un-report-says/
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