What's the Happiest Country in the World

Each year, theUnited Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Networkreleases its annual Happiness Report, which attempts to analyze the happiness of over 160 countries. The report measures multiple variables, six of which are combined to create each country’s Happiness Index.These six variables are:GDP per CapitaHealthy Life Expectancy-Measure of life expectancy for members of the population in good health.Social Support- Whether or not people have someone to count on in times of trouble.Perception of Corruption-Perception among citizens of government and business corruption.Freedom to Make Life Choices

Norway tops the global happiness rankings for 2017.Norway has jumped from 4th place in 2016 to 1st place this year, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland in a tightly packed bunch. All of the top four countries rank highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance. Their averages are so close that small changes can re-order the rankings from year to year. Norway moves to the top of the ranking despite weaker oil prices. It is sometimes said that Norway achieves and maintains its high happiness not because of its oil wealth, but in spite of it.

Besides,The USA is a story of reduced happiness. In 2007 the USA ranked 3rd among the OECD countries; in 2016 it came 19th. The reasons are declining social support and increased corruption and it is these same factors that explain why the Nordic countries do so much better.