World Happiness Report: here is how happy Hungarians are

The most recent World Happiness Report, ranking countries according to the happiness of their population, was published on Monday.

For the sixth year in a row, Finland has been declared the country with the happiest population, index.hu reports. Hungary is ranked 51st on the list.

Published annually since 2012, the report is compiled by researchers in the United States based on a global survey conducted by the Gallup Institute. This year, the report focused on how the coronavirus epidemic has affected people’s well-being in 109 countries. Despite the pandemic, researchers have found that people’s satisfaction levels are surprisingly high. In fact, global averages between 2020 and 2022 are at the same level as in the pre-pandemic period 2017-2019.

Northern and Western European countries usually finish at the top of the list presented in the report. This year was no different, as Finland, which took the first place for the sixth year in a row, was followed by Denmark and Iceland. Hungary came after the North American Salvador in 51st place. According to the report, the two unhappiest countries in the world this year remained unchanged since last year, with Afghanistan and Lebanon being at the bottom of the list.

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Every second person unhappy in Hungary

An international survey by Ipsos, measuring the level of happiness in 32 countries, was recently published, too. Overall, 73 percent of people said they were happy. Unfortunately, Hungary is not in a good position when it comes to measuring the happiness of each country. Respondents in Hungary reported the lowest levels of happiness: only 50 percent of them said they were happy. South Korea (57 percent) and Poland (58 percent) were also among the unhappiest countries. According to the Ipsos survey, citizens in China (91 percent), Saudi Arabia (86 percent) and the Netherlands (85 percent) reported being the happiest.