Despite being in the middle of a challenging war, Israel has been named the fifth-happiest nation in the world, according to the 2024 World Happiness Report (WHR).
The report, which averages happiness scores over the past three years, places Israel just one position lower than its previous year’s ranking, where it stood fourth.
Israel falls closely behind the Nordic countries—Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden—which lead the happiness rankings. It surpasses other high-ranking nations such as the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Australia.
Countries such as Canada, Germany, the United States, and France also featured in the report, ranking 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 27th, respectively.
The Jewish State stands alone in a region where many countries find themselves near the bottom of the happiness scale. Notably, Afghanistan holds the position of the unhappiest country, followed closely by Lebanon, with other Middle Eastern nations like Jordan, Egypt, and Iran ranking significantly lower than Israel.
The WHR bases its findings on subjective metrics like life evaluation, positive emotions, and negative emotions, assessed through the Cantril ladder, where individuals rate their feelings on a scale from 0 to 10. The overall ranking also considers factors like GDP per capita.
