:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/estadao/3YINCLOGGJMKXCAFSXWARKEMG4.jpg "What are the happiest countries in the world in 2023? See the listing – International")
On Monday, the 20th, the United Nations released the World Happiness Report 2023. The survey indicated that Finland ranked first in the ranking of the happiest countries in the world. Brazil dropped 11 places this year, moving from 38th to 49th.
The report analyzes six main indicators: social support, income, health, sense of freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption, according to performance in the past three years and, accordingly, from 2020 to 2022.
Finland ranks first for the sixth consecutive time in the survey, and it is already in its eleventh edition. The top five also consists of Denmark (2nd), Iceland (3rd), Israel (4th) and the Netherlands (5th). With these results, Europe stands out with four countries considered the happiest in the world.
While Finland tops the ranking, the bottom two are occupied by Lebanon (136th) and Afghanistan (137th), which came at the bottom of the poll for the third year in a row. The repeated finding points to a country devastated by a deepening humanitarian crisis since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and pulled out US-led forces.
Costa Rica is the happiest in Latin America
At number 23, Costa Rica leads the ranking of the happiest countries in Latin America. According to the UN report, Latin American countries “have significantly higher average life ratings (about 0.5 on a scale of 0 to 10) than the model predicted,” due to a series of factors such as unique characteristics of family and social life.
Jeffrey Arguedas/EFE
In contrast, average life ratings in East Asian countries are below expectations, due to “cultural differences in the way people think and report about their quality of life.”
Brazil in the ranking
In the first edition of the ranking, launched in 2012, the country ranked 25th. In the following years, it progressed until it reached 17th place, in 2016. Since then, however, the Brazilian’s happiness has gradually declined. As of 2017, Brazil is ranked 22nd and 28th in 2018, 32nd in 2019 and 2020, 41st in 2021 and 38th in 2022.
Despite this year’s drop of 11 places, Brazil is still ahead of Argentina (52nd). Among the countries in South America that are happier than Brazil, the country comes after Uruguay (28th) and Chile (35th).
