NEW DELHI: Indians, it appears, are getting unhappier by the year, while their not-so-well-off neighbours in
Pakistan are becoming more joyful, shows the latest United Nations ranking of the world's happiest countries.
India, which dropped four places in the 2017
World Happiness Report, fell a further 11 places in the 2018 report. It now ranks a low 133 on the list of 156 countries monitored by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Solutions Network for its annual 'joy' report.
By comparison, terror-ravaged Pakistan, which was already 'happier' than India in the 2017 rankings, is shown as being even happier in the 2018 rankings. It's on number 75, up five spots from last year.
Not just Pakistan, all of India's immediate neighbours are more joyful than Indians, despite many of them not being nearly as well-off economically or even socially.
Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are all ahead of India in the Happiness rankings. Even state-controled China is happier than India.
The World Happiness Report published yesterday put Finland at the top among 156 countries ranked by happiness levels, based on factors such as life expectancy, social support and corruption.
What explains Finland being happiest despite it getting little sun and despite its frigid temperatures?
``Well, our politics and our economics. I think the basics are quite good in Finland. So, yes, we have the perfect circumstances to have a happy life here in Finland '' said Sofia Holm, a 24-year-old resident of Helsinki, the Nordic country's capital, to the Associated Press.
