Source: Radio New Zealand
It’s the third year in a row New Zealand has ranked outside the top 10 in the World Happiness Report. 123rf.com
Finland has once again been named the happiest country in the world, a title it has now held a record nine times.
New Zealand often ranks in the top 10, but it has just dipped outside to 11th in the most recent World Happiness Report. It’s the third year in a row New Zealand has ranked outside the top 10.
It’s mostly Nordic countries ahead of New Zealand, but Israel is in 8th. Our friends across the ditch, Australia, were ranked 15th.
Finnish philosopher Frank Martela, the go-to expert on Nordic happiness, told First Up that Finnish people were relatively sceptical of the results.
“I guess the Finnish people think of themselves as this slightly introverted, even melancholic, bunch of people. So, being the happiest people in the world doesn’t really fit into Finnish self-image,” he said.
Martela said rather than Finnish people being happier, there are fewer extremely unhappy people in Finland, which drives up the average.
“When you say that Finland is the happiest country, it’s one way of putting it, [but] another way of putting it would be saying Finland is the country where there are the least amount of people who are actively unhappy about their lives – that would be, in a way, a more accurate description.”
In other words, if New Zealand wants to boost its ranking, Kiwis should complain less.
“That’s the Finnish way of doing this – not complaining too much, just minding one’s own business and being happy about it,” Martela said.
To determine the ranking, the Gallup World Poll asks respondents in 147 countries to evaluate their lives using the image of a ladder, with the best possible life as a 10 and the worst possible as a 0. Each respondent provides a numerical response on this scale, referred to as the Cantril Ladder.
Researchers look at six factors, including GDP per capita, life expectancy, generosity and perceptions of freedom and corruption to help account for variations among countries. The rankings are based on a three-year average, which smoothes out spikes and dips occasioned by big events such as war or financial downturns.
The Finns reported an average score of 7.764 to evaluate their life satisfaction.
Martela said universal healthcare, low corruption, high-quality free education, unemployment benefits and good maternity leave are some of the factors behind the score.
Finland’s deep commitment to cooperation helps explain its staying power at the top of the ranking, John F. Helliwell, professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia and a founding editor of the World Happiness Report, said in an interview.
“Successful societies cooperate in the face of adversity,” he said. “The Finns know this. And once you have the sense that you are in this together, there’s no end to what you can do.”
New Zealand has ranked 11th in the World Happiness Report. 123rf.com
Youth crisis
The report’s writers have begun to pay attention to what they consider a crisis in youth happiness, first mentioned in the 2024 ranking.
In the latest edition, the survey found life evaluations among respondents under age 25 in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have dropped by almost one full point on the scale of 0 to 10 over the last decade, a dramatic slide especially since the average satisfaction for young people in the rest of the world has increased, according to Gallup World Poll data.
A key factor in the sharp drop in youth happiness, researchers said, is the number of hours young people spend consuming social media or gaming. And while experts say it’s important to limit time spent with the Internet overall, some ways of spending time online are healthier than others, including communicating with loved ones, and learning new skills.
A certain amount of Internet and social media consumption wasn’t necessarily negative, he said, saying, “There seems to be a sweet spot.”
“You don’t want to be unconnected but you don’t want to be too connected,” he said. “With the Internet, too much is a bad thing.”
The world’s top happiest countries in 2026
1. Finland
2. Iceland
3. Denmark
4. Costa Rica
5. Sweden
6. Norway
7. Netherlands
8. Israel
9. Luxembourg
10. Switzerland
11. New Zealand
You can read the report here.
– RNZ with additional reporting by CNN
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
