Ireland ranks ahead of UK, US and Canada on World Happiness Index

Ireland has ranked ahead of the UK, the US and Canada on the latest World Happiness Index. 

The report - covering the years 2019 to 2021 - was released this week and reveals Ireland is the 13th happiest country in the world, while Finland, Denmark and Iceland take the top spots. 

All but two countries in the top 10 are in Europe, with Israel and New Zealand coming in at numbers nine and ten. 

According to the index, the least happy countries in the world are Afghanistan, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Botswana. 

The country rankings are collated by analysis of the Gallup World Poll across three main wellbeing indicators, including life evaluations, positive emotions and negative emotions (described in the report as positive and negative affect). 

The World Happiness Report 2022 is out!https://t.co/KqNvd3OINv pic.twitter.com/LQkIn8XjbR

— World Happiness Report (@HappinessRpt) March 18, 2022

Life evaluations are measured by asking respondents to evaluate their current life as a whole using the mental image of a ladder, with a 10 as the best possible life and 0 as the worst possible life.  

Each respondent provides a response on the scale with typically 1,000 responses gathered annually for each country. 

The 'positive emotions' category is determined based on yes or no answers to three questions about emotions experienced (or not) the previous day. 

These include laughter, enjoying something, learning something or doing something interesting. 

Participants were also asked if they experienced worry, sadness and anger to determine 'negative emotions', with data then compared.