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Happiest countries in the world revealed – where does the UK rank?

Published 17:19 19 Mar 2026 GMT

Updated 17:19 19 Mar 2026 GMT

Harry Warner
Happiest countries in the world revealed – where does the UK rank?

Homenews

It's that time of the year when everyone questions why Finland is so happy

The 2026 ranking for the happiest countries in the world has been revealed as well as Britain's position on the list.

It won't come as a surprise to absolutely anybody that Britain is not the happiest country in the world and, let's be honest, that's how we like it.

The UK wouldn't be the iconic, miserable, wet, but also stoic nation that we are if we were all perpetually happy like the Canadians or Americans.

With that said, we've still got to rank somewhere, and, actually, it's not as bad as you might think at first, especially when the UK often comes near the top of the ugly duckling sibling of the ranking world - most miserable nations.

Of course the top 10 features all the Nordic countries, with Finland number one, Iceland number two, and Denmark number three.

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Meanwhile, Sweden comes in fifth and Norway sixth.

The top ten is rounded out by Costa Rica in fourth, Israel in eighth, Luxembourg ninth and Switzerland in tenth.

The ranking is compiled by the World Happiness Report who judge the scores off equality, social support, GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, perceptions of corruption, positive emotions and negative emotions.

Happiest countries in the world revealed - where does the UK rank?Logo Camera in article

The full list is as follows:

  1. Finland
  2. Iceland
  3. Denmark
  4. Costa Rica
  5. Sweden
  6. Norway
  7. Netherlands
  8. Israel
  9. Luxembourg
  10. Switzerland
  11. New Zealand
  12. Mexico
  13. Ireland
  14. Belgium
  15. Australia
  16. Kosovo
  17. Germany
  18. Slovenia
  19. Austria
  20. Czechia
  21. United Arab Emirates
  22. Saudi Arabia
  23. United States
  24. Poland
  25. Canada
  26. Taiwan
  27. Belize
  28. Lithuania
  29. United Kingdom

Happiest countries in the world revealed - where does the UK rank?