World Happiness Report

The United Nations has released the World Happiness Report- 2019.

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• The report was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations
• March 20 was designated as the World Happiness Day by the UN General Assembly in 2012.
• This is the 7th World Happiness Report. The first was released in April 2012 in support of a UN High level meeting on “Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”.
• That report presented the available global data on national happiness and reviewed related evidence from the emerging science of happiness.
• The report ranks countries on six key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity.
• The happiness study ranks the countries of the world on the basis of questions from the Gallup World Poll. The results are then correlated with other factors, including GDP and social security.
• This year’s focus is on happiness and community: how happiness has been changing over the past dozen years, and how information technology, governance and social norms influence communities.
• In 2018 report, the theme was migration as one important source of global change, which revealed that each country’s life circumstances, including the social context and political institutions were such important sources of happiness that the international ranking of migrant happiness was almost identical to that of the native born.

Highlights of the 2019 Report

• Indians are not as happy in 2019 as they were in 2018 and the country figures at 140th place, seven spots down from last year.
• The overall world happiness has fallen over the past few years, which has mostly been fuelled by a sustained drop in India.
• Finland has topped a global happiness ranking for the second year in a row.
• It beat Nordic peers Denmark, Norway and Iceland in a ranking of 156 countries by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
• The UN’s seventh annual World Happiness Report also noted that there has been an increase in negative emotions, including worry, sadness and anger.
• Pakistan is ranked 67th, Bangladesh 125th and China is place at 93rd.
• People in war-torn South Sudan are the unhappy with their lives, followed by Central African Republic (155), Afghanistan (154), Tanzania (153) and Rwanda (152).

What is Gallup Poll?

• It is a global analytics and advice firm that helps leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems.
• It focuses on the choices and mood of employees, customers, students and citizens in countries of the world.
• It tries to know what matters most to them at work and in life and how those priorities change over time.
  
  

  United Nations Sustainable Development Solution Network The UN SDSN has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. The aim is to accelerate joint learning and promote integrated approaches that address the interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world. SDSN works closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the private sector, and civil society. The organization and governance of SDSN aims to enable a large number of leaders from all regions and diverse backgrounds to participate in the development of the network. It acts as the board of SDSN. Much of SDSN’s work is led by National or Regional SDSNs, which mobilize knowledge institutions around the SDGs. Several Thematic Networks mobilize experts from around the world on the technical challenges of implementing the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement. SDSN has a small secretariat with offices in New York, New Delhi, and Paris.