The 2025 World Happiness Report is out and it's not good news for the US. While the top four happiest countries are no shock – Scandinavia and Iceland – the US is becoming unhappier by the year, slipping to its lowest spot on the table ever.
In the newly released report, the US dropped in overall happiness to 24 on the list, one spot down the ladder from last year's position. And on individual metrics, the country may have climbed to fourth spot in terms of GDP per capita (4, up from 6), it also dropped five places in the Freedom category, coming in at 115. For context, China's sense of freedom ranked 65.
The report, now in its 13th edition, is released annually to coincide with the United Nations International Day of Happiness on March 20. It sources data from the Gallup World Poll, which quizzes people around the world on how they score their life in their country. Then, GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption are assessed in closer detail.
To the north, Canada also slipped down the ladder but remains well ahead of the US, coming in at 18 after hovering around 15 for the last few years. Meanwhile, for the first time, two Latin American nations – Costa Rica (6) and Mexico (10) hit the top 10, as Australia slipped out of it, coming in at 11. The US, Canada and Australia aren't the only English-speaking countries a little less happy – the UK (23) slipped out of the top 20 for the first time in nearly a decade.
Taiwan (27), meanwhile, jumped ahead of Singapore (34) to take the title of the happiest place in Asia. And, as someone who has been living in Taiwan for two months, I certainly agree with this regional win. (And, of course, though Taiwan is technically, officially the Republic of China, the Taiwanese people regard the island as inherently different to and independent of mainland China).
Much like the top spots, the tail end of the rankings are also consistent, with Afghanistan (147), Sierra Leone (146) and Lebanon (145) once again ranking as the least happiest places on Earth for residents.
So does the US rank – which has dropped nearly 10 spots since 2022 – surprise you? It's worth noting that although this is the 2025 report the data itself is sourced from the three previous years (2022, 2023 and 2024). With that in mind, it'll be interesting to see where the US sits in 2026.
The 20 happiest countries in 2025
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
6. Costa Rica
7. Norway
8. Israel
9. Luxembourg
10. Mexico
11. Australia
12. New Zealand
13. Switzerland
14. Belgium
15. Ireland
16. Lithuania
17. Austria
18. Canada
19. Slovenia
20. Czech Republic
You can read the entire list on the World Happiness Report site.
Source: World Happiness Report