Finland has been recognized as the happiest country in the world for the ninth year in a row. Meanwhile, Ukraine ranked 111th out of 147 in the happiness ranking, the same place as last year.
This is stated in the annual World Happiness Report.
The top ten traditionally included the Scandinavian countries, while Mexico disappeared, giving way to Switzerland. Here is the top ten:
- Finland;
- Iceland;
- Denmark;
- Costa Rica;
- Sweden;
- Norway;
- Netherlands;
- Israel;
- Luxembourg;
- Switzerland.
Afghanistan, almost traditionally, remains in last place — 147th place.
In the 2026 Happiness Report, researchers concluded that most Western industrialized countries are now less happy than they were between 2005 and 2010.
In eight out of ten global regions, the youngest age group has higher life satisfaction scores now than in 2006–2010. Youth well-being has declined only in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Negative emotions are becoming more common around the world. But they are less common among young people, with the exception of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Worry has increased more among young people, while the frequency of anger has decreased among both young and older people.
Positive emotions continue to be twice as common as negative emotions. In all regions except the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, positive emotions are more common among younger people than older people.
Social media, teenagers and happiness
Separate studies by sociological groups PISA and Gallup have focused on the use of social media by teenagers. Among them, life satisfaction is highest with low levels of social media use and lowest with high levels of use.
A PISA study of 15-year-old students in 47 countries shows that those who use social media for more than seven hours a day have significantly lower levels of well-being than those who use it for less than an hour. Among girls, average life satisfaction was highest among those who rarely use social media (less than an hour a day), and decreased with increasing hours of use. Among boys, this trend was observed only in Western Europe and English-speaking countries.
Data from Latin America shows that the type of platform matters. Platforms designed to foster social connections show a clear positive association with happiness, while platforms that rely on algorithmically selected content tend to have a negative effect when used frequently.
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