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UN Happiness Report: Romania is on 32nd place in the world
Happiness research shows a more nuanced picture of people, which changes over time and space, according to the 2024 edition of the Happiness Report released by the UN on Wednesday. Romania is on 32nd place in this
ranking, where young people are happier than seniors. If we take into account only the young, the level of happiness of Romanians places them in 8th place in the world.
The authors focused in the 2024 Happiness Report on the happiness of people at different stages of life. Finland ranks first, with Israel on a surprising 5th place, while USA left the top 20 ranking. Finland’s northern neighbors also scored reliably high, with Denmark (No. 2), Iceland (No. 3) and Sweden (No. 4) in the top five, and Norway (No. 7) sits comfortably in the top 10. The Netherlands (No. 6), Luxembourg (No. 8), Switzerland (No. 9) and Australia (No. 10) complete the top 10.
Romania ranks 32nd in the list of the happiest countries out of 143 countries. Last year, our country was in 24th place, according to the World Happiness Report.
The survey shows that in the West, young people are the happiest, says the Report. The level of happiness declines thereafter until middle age, after which it begins to rise again. But from 2006-2010 happiness among young people (ages 15-24) declined sharply in North America – to the point where young people ended up being less happy than old people.
Young people’s happiness has also fallen in Western Europe (but less sharply). The former Soviet Union and East Asia also saw increases in happiness across all age groups. While in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, happiness fell across all age groups.
The top 10 countries have remained almost the same since before COVID. Finland is the country with the happiest inhabitants, followed by Denmark. All five Nordic countries are otherwise in the top 10. But in the next 10, there are many changes: Eastern European countries move up the rankings (especially the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovenia). The United States and Germany fell to 23rd and 24th in the rankings.
In many regions, but not all, the young are happier than the old. Only in North America has happiness declined so sharply for the young that they are now less happy than the old. In contrast, in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the young are much happier than the old. In Western Europe overall, happiness is similar at all ages, while elsewhere it tends to decline over the life cycle.
The ranking of countries by happiness is very different for the young and the old. Across generations, those born before 1965 are happier than those born after 1980.
In Central and Eastern Europe, young people are now as happy as in Western Europe, and among the elderly the gap between East and West is half of what it was in 2006-10, although still large (a whole point on the scale ) from 0 to 10).
Negative emotions are more common now than in 2006-2010 everywhere, less so in East Asia and Europe. In 2021-2023, negative emotions were in every region more prevalent for women than for men.
The COVID crisis has led to an increase in the number of people helping others in need. This increase in kindness was large for all generations, but especially for those born after 1980, who are more likely to help others.
In almost every region, feelings of social support are more than twice as prevalent as loneliness. Both social support and loneliness affect happiness, with social support usually having a greater effect.
In most countries, life satisfaction declines gradually from childhood to adolescence. Globally, 15- to 24-year-olds report higher life satisfaction than seniors. But this gap is narrowing in Western Europe and has reversed in North America.