The 2021 World Happiness Report has ranked Nigeria as the 116th happiest place in the world. This ranking puts the nation a spot lower than last year.
The UN-sponsored report ranked Finland as the happiest country in the world, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, and the Netherlands.
Nigeria’s new position is indicative of the declining perception of the emotional wellbeing of the citizens of the country, based on some selected indicators.
The report placed Afghanistan as the most unhappy in the world, followed by Lesotho, Botswana, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.
Of the countries that make up the happiest places, according to the report, 9 of them are from the EU. Only New Zealand (9th place) is not a part of the European Union.
The United States ranked 19th while Mauritius was ranked as the happiest African nation at 50th place.
Data from analytics researcher Gallup asked people in 149 countries to rate their own happiness. Measures including social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product (GDP), and levels of corruption were also factored in.
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The 2021 report also factored in the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and how people all over the world fared in their respective countries. The report focused on the effects of COVID-19 on the structure and quality of people’s lives, and on how governments all over the world have dealt with the pandemic.
“This ninth World Happiness Report is unlike any that have come before. COVID-19 has shaken, taken, and reshaped lives everywhere,” the report said.
According to the author of the report, a significantly higher frequency of negative emotions was recorded in just over a third of the countries, while things got better for 22 countries.
“Surprisingly there was not, on average, a decline in well-being when measured by people’s own evaluation of their lives,” John Helliwell, one of the report’s authors, said in a statement. “One possible explanation is that people see Covid-19 as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and fellow-feeling.”
“This has been a very challenging year, but the early data also show some notable signs of resilience in feelings of social connection and life evaluations,” said Lara Aknin, another author.
In last year’s report, Nigeria placed 115th. This was a significant fall from its placement in 2019, where the country placed 85th.
The country was at 91st place in 2018.
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