India has shown modest progress in the 2025 World Happiness Report. It climbed to 118th position, improving from 126th last year. Despite this, India still lags behind its neighbors such as Nepal, Pakistan, and Ukraine in happiness rankings. Finland remains the world’s happiest country for the eighth consecutive year. It is followed by Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. The rankings are based on self-reported life evaluations from 2022 to 2024. These evaluations consider factors like life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions. Performance Of India India’s ranking in overall happiness may […]
India Rises in 2025 Happiness Rankings, But Still Lags Behind
India has shown modest progress in the 2025 World Happiness Report. It climbed to 118th position, improving from 126th last year. Despite this, India still lags behind its neighbors such as Nepal, Pakistan, and Ukraine in happiness rankings. Finland remains the world’s happiest country for the eighth consecutive year. It is followed by Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. The rankings are based on self-reported life evaluations from 2022 to 2024. These evaluations consider factors like life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions.
India’s ranking in overall happiness may be low, but it performed better in areas related to kindness. The country ranked 57th for donating, 10th for volunteering, and 74th for helping strangers. These rankings highlight India’s cultural tendency towards collective care, even amidst systemic challenges.
In South Asia, Afghanistan is ranked last, holding the 147th position. Nepal and Pakistan are ahead of India, at 92nd and 109th, respectively. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh fall behind India, ranked 133rd and 134th. China’s ranking has declined, dropping to 68th from 60th last year.
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The report emphasizes the importance of social connections and shared experiences. Acts like sharing meals with others were found to significantly boost happiness. People who regularly eat with others report higher levels of satisfaction and well-being. The pandemic has had a lasting effect on global attitudes towards kindness. Although the surge in helping others during the COVID years has decreased in 2024, benevolence remains significantly higher than it was before the pandemic. Helping strangers, in particular, has seen enduring resilience.
The United States saw a major decline in its happiness ranking, falling to 24th place—the lowest in the report’s history. Experts linked this decline to increasing solitary dining, which negatively impacts well-being. The World Happiness Report’s origins lie in Bhutan’s focus on Gross National Happiness, which led to its adoption at the United Nations in 2011. Since then, the report has been released annually, helping track global well-being. Despite challenges, community-driven initiatives and benevolent actions continue to play a key role in fostering happiness worldwide.
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