The world’s happiest (and unhappiest) countries have been revealed (2024)

The pandemic certainly had some lasting effects on how we socialise, how our workplaces are run and how we travel, but it turns out it’s had a pretty substantial and lingering impact on our mental health, according to a new report.

TheGlobal Mind Project’s fourth annual ‘Mental State of the World’ report (conducted by Sapien Labs) reveals just how unhappy we all are since 2020, and the results are pretty staggering.

For the latest round of research, 419,175 individuals from 71 different countries responded to an anonymous online survey.The assessment aims to find an individual’s Mental Health Quotient (MHQ), which evaluates 47 aspects of mental health, in six main categories: mood and outlook, social self, drive and motivation, mind-body connection, cognition and adaptability and resilience.

The survey also collects info on people’s lifestyle, dynamics with family and friends, and personal traumas. Based on their responses, people were given a score and placed on a spectrum, from thriving to distressed.

So, which countries had the highest average MHQ? Well, the Dominican Republicclaimed the top spot, where the average MHQ is 91 out of 300, but it was closely followed by Sri Lanka which scored 89, and Tanzania which scored 88. Absolutely thriving.

But not everywhere has scored as highly. Way down at the other end of the chart is Uzbekistan, which has a measly average MHQ of 48, and it’s closely followed by the UK, which only has 49. Have a look at the lists of the ten happiest and unhappiest countries below.

The ten happiest countries in the world

1. Dominican Republic
2. Sri Lanka
3. Tanzania
4. Panama
5. Malaysia
6. Nigeria
7. Venezuela
8. El Salvador
9. Costa Rica
10. Uruguay

The ten unhappiest countries in the world

1. Uzbekistan
2. UK
3. South Africa
4. Brazil
5. Tajikistan
6. Australia
7. Egypt
8. Ireland
9. Iraq
10. Yemen

Did you see that it’s official: these are Europe’s best cities for 2024?

Plus: this is the best country in the world, according to half a million travellers.

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