World Happiness Report: Australia dropped two places from last year to 11th position on the global ranking
We may consider ourselves the lucky country, but Australia has ranked below Mexico and conflict-ridden Israel in a list of the world’s happiest places to live.
The Happiest Country in the World 2025 rankings placed Australia ranked outside of the top 10 at 11th position, edging out arch-rivals New Zealand at 12th.
But, the report showed Aussies to be more unhappy than the citizens of Mexico and conflict-ridden Israel.
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Nordic countries yet again dominated the as Finland, Denmark and Iceland finished in the top 3 with Sweden following closely at 4th position.
The annual report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.
The rankings are calculated from a three-year average of self-reported well-being scores, collected from participants in 147 countries and measured on a scale ranging from zero to 10.
Finland topped the global rankings of 146 countries for the eight consecutive year in a row.
Jeffrey D Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network which conducted the study with analytics firm Gallup said factors beyond traditional indicators like financial wealth and health also played a critical role in overall well-being.
“The findings in this year’s World Happiness Report reconfirm a fundamental truth: happiness is rooted in trust, kindness, and social connection,” he said.
The study found that sharing a meal with others, a household size of four-to-five and a belief in the kindness of others to be key predictors of happiness of a country.
Nordic nations were found to rank highest in the expected and actual return of lost wallets.
The US under the Trump administration dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, falling from a record-high of 11th position during the Obama era.
Afghanistan was once again ranked last this year, with the Taliban government failing to lift the spirits of its citizens since their 2021 takeover.
Sierra Leone and Lebanon are second last and third from the bottom respectively.
World Happiness Report Rankings
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
6. Costa Rica
7. Norway
8. Israel
9. Luxembourg
10. Mexico
11. Australia
12. New Zealand
13. Switzerland
14. Belgium
15. Ireland
16. Lithuania
17. Austria
18. Canada
19. Slovenia
20. Czechia
