Finland is world's happiest country for 8th straight year. India stands at ...

It is for the eight consecutive year that the Nordic country has managed to retain its No. 1 spot. (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

Finland has once again been named the world's happiest country, as per the World Happiness Report 2025 published on Thursday. It is for the eight consecutive year that the Nordic country has managed to retain its No. 1 spot.

Other Nordic countries including Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four in the list and in the same order. India made slight improvement in its happiness quotient, up from 126 in 2024 to 118 this year.

The report, published on the UN's International Day of Happiness, is based on analysis of how the residents of 147 countries rate their quality of life.

The United States not only failed to make the top 10 but also slipped to its lowest-ever position in the happiness ranking at 24. Last year, it dropped out of the top 20 for the first time since the 2012. According to the report, the number of people dining alone in the US has increased 53% over the past two decades.

Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple - sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said.

As per the latest findings, believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought. As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population.

Nordic nations rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found.

While European countries dominate the top 20 in the ranking, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel clinched the 8th spot. In a first, Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10) made it to the top 10.

The United Kingdom, at 23, is reporting its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report.

Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult. Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking the 3rd from the bottom.

In a concerning development, the study revealed that 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006.

All countries are ranked according to their self-assessed life evaluations averaged over 2022 to 2024.