south africa unhappiest countries globally

Photo: Envato Elements

South Africa is one of the world’s unhappiest countries – these are the happiest

South Africa has been ranked as one of the unhappiest countries in the world, coming in at 106th out of 156 countries surveyed.

south africa unhappiest countries globally

Photo: Envato Elements

The seventh World Happiness Report has been released and it seems we aren’t such a jolly bunch.

Out of 156 countries, South Africa has been placed 106th behind other African countries such as Ghana, Cameroon and Congo.

The report shows that over the past decade we have become pretty dissatisfied with our overall life satisfaction. To be precise we are now 0.49 points unhappier on the ten-point scale.

Between Stage 4 load shedding, corruption, late trains and everything else, perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise.

We’re adding this dubious achievement to the others of being some of the drunkest and some of the unhealthiest. Great going, guys.

Happiness Report: How it’s measured

There are six metrics to develop the rankings of residents’ well-being: freedom, generosity, income, trust, healthy life expectancy and social support.

These are self evaluated by each country’s participating citizens which in turn gives the country an average score which ranks them. The happiest countries have the highest ranking values in those areas.

Each year the Happiness Report has a specific focus. The latest report, from 2019, was focused on happiness and community and the changes in happiness that were brought on by shifts in information technology, governance and social norms.

So along with the six basic metrics, the theme addresses external factors that could also impact a countries happiness ranking.

The ten happiest countries in the world

As with previous years, the cheery Northern European’s hold on to the top spots. With Finland, home of Santa taking the top spot. Curiously, the top four happiest countries are all freezing.

Maybe there’s only so much your daily dose of Vitamin D can do.

  • Finland
  • Denmark
  • Norway
  • Iceland
  • Netherlands
  • Switzerland
  • Sweden
  • New Zealand
  • Canada
  • Austria


Read the full happiness report here.