Daily Times

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network has released the World Happiness Report 2021 and Pakistan has been ranked at 105 out of 149 countries in the list.

Finland has been ranked as the world’s happiest country for the fourth consecutive year followed by Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Norway.

Pakistan has been ranked happier than India (139). Bangladesh is on 101st and China on 84th, according to the report. People in war-ravaged Afghanistan are the most unhappy, followed by Zimbabwe (148), Rwanda (147), Botswana (146) and Lesotho (145).

The United States (US) is on 19th for happiness despite being one of the richest countries in the world.

The World Happiness Report is a survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 149 countries by how happy their citizens think themselves to be. The countries are ranked on the basis of questions from the Gallup World Poll. The results are then correlated with other factors, including GDP and social security.

Meanwhile, according to a report by money website Expensivity, money can’t buy happiness, as the saying goes, but varying levels of income can lead to positive well-being depending on the cost of living and where you live in the world.

The global average of the price of happiness is $85,000 a year, according to Expensivity, which calculated the cost of happiness for 160 countries by combining data from Purdue University’s Happiness, income satiation and turning points around the world report, purchasing power ratios from the World Bank and cost-of-living figures in cities.

The cost of happiness in South-East Asia is below the global average of $85,000 in every country, ranging from $15,643 in Pakistan to $46,078 in Singapore. Happiness in India costs $20,235 a year, while in China, it is much higher at $70,848.

The Purdue University study, which is based on data from the Gallup World Poll of 1.7 million people, found that there is an ideal level of money that could make a person happy – and it varies around the world.

Meanwhile, other countries where happiness comes at a high price include Australia at $135,321, Israel ($130,457) and Switzerland ($128,969), where the cost of living is considered high, the Expensivity report said. In the US, a yearly income of $105,000 is sufficient to be happy.

In the Gulf, Qatar has the highest happiness price tag at $75,936, followed by Kuwait at $71,537 and the UAE with $70,771 per annum. Happiness is more affordable in Oman at $61,021, Bahrain ($56,901) and Saudi Arabia ($54,263), according to Expensivity.

However, the report found that happiness is less expensive in Eastern Europe. In Ukraine, the point at which more money no longer brings more happiness occurs at $11,301 – the lowest for any country in Europe, Expensivity said.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the maximum level of happiness occurs at just $40,000 on average.

Among global cities, the price of happiness is highest in New York City at $139,183. Outside the US, the city with the highest price of happiness is Bern, Switzerland, at $128,969, while Oslo has a happiness price tag of $114,147 followed by London with $110,000.