Subjective well-being, or personal happiness, can depend heavily on country of residence. Western European and North American countries tend to have the happiest populations, while residents of countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East are most likely to be unhappy.

Hard to quantify factors such as personality and social status can affect people’s assessment of their own well-being. As a result, asking individuals to rate their overall happiness on a scale of 0-10 for purposes of comparison would likely yield unreliable results. However, when such a survey is conducted over broad populations over the course of several years, clear patterns emerge.

Using years of data from the Gallup World Poll, which asked residents of 156 countries to rank their happiness, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network compiled the World Happiness Report 2018, ranking countries by happiness levels. The world’s happiest countries tend to share several factors related to the economy, social connections, and health outcomes.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the World Happiness Report 2018 to identify the happiest countries in the world.

Click here to see the happiest countries in the world.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.