At a time like this—when the coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the globe and has killed over 10,000 people—we need some happy news. The annual World Happiness Report has just been released, timed to the UN’s annual International Day of Happiness on March 20. For the third year in a row, Finland has placed at the top of the list as the happiest country in the world, with Denmark coming in second, followed by Switzerland, which pushed Norway out of the top three this year. (For tips on how people in Finland stay so happy.
And while it seems like a strange time to be evaluating happiness, the editors of the report point out that challenging times can actually increase happiness.
The World Happiness Report is an annual survey by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations. It looks at the state of global happiness in 156 countries, ranking countries using the Gallup World Poll and six factors: levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption income. The World Happiness Report was originally launched in 2012.
According to the World Happiness Report 2020, these are the 10 happiest African countries/cities in the world:
City/Country (Global Ranking)
- Algiers/Algeria (93rd)
- Niamey/Niger (100th)
- Port-Louis/Mauritius (104th)
- Tripoli/Libya (111th)
- Benghazi/Libya (112th)
- Johannesburg/South Africa (120th)
- Mogadishu/Somalia (123rd)
- Freetown/Sierra-Leone (125th)
- Accra/Ghana (129th)
- Cape Town/South Africa (130th)
In the ranking of cities’ happiness around the world, World Happiness Report 2020 first looked at current life evaluation – an evaluative measure of subjective well-being and the main outcome – and then contrasted the findings with those on expected future life evaluation of cities’ inhabitants.
Looking at the ranking from the bottom end which features the world’s least happy countries/cities, there were quite a number of African entries.
These are the 10 least happy African countries/cities in the world:
City/Country (Global Ranking)
- Juba/South Sudan (182nd)
- Dar-es-salaam/Tanzania (181st)
- Bangui/Central African Republic (178th)
- Cairo/Egypt (177th)
- Kigali/Rwanda (176th)
- Kumasi/Ghana (175th)
- Khartoum/Sudan (174th)
- Monrovia/Liberia (173rd)
- Antananarivo/Madagascar (172nd)
- Harare/Zimbabwe (171st)
East Africa’s largest economy, Kenya, ranks 14th in Africa and 139th globally on the happiness rankings.
In what was a rather curious absence, there was no room for Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, Nigeria, on the rankings.
African countries will double in population by 2050 and more than 80% of that increase will
occur in cities. Africa’s largest city, Lagos, Nigeria, is predicted to expand by 77 people every hour between now and 2030.
By 2025 there will be 100 African cities with more than one million inhabitants, twice as many as in Latin America. Already 70% of Africans are under 30 years old, accounting for about 20% of the population, 40% of the workforce, and 60% of the unemployed.
It seems that Sub-Saharan Africa is not prepared for its urban expansion and many African governments are trying to limit rural-urban migration.
10 Most Improved African Territories In World Happiness Report 2020
City/Country (Global Ranking)
- Abidjan/Cote d’Ivoire (1st)
- Cotonou/Benin (5th)
- Dakar/Senegal (7th)
- Conakry/Guinea (8th)
- Niamey/Niger (9th)
- Brazzaville/Congo Brazzaville (10th)
- Ouagadougou/Burkina Faso (11th)
- Freetown/Sierra-Leone (12th)
- Douala/Cameroon (15th)
- Libreville/Gabon (18th)
World’s 20 Happiest Countries
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Switzerland
4. Iceland
5. Norway
6. Netherlands
7. Sweden
8. New Zealand
9. Austria
10. Luxembourg
11. Canada
12. Australia
13. United Kingdom
14. Israel
15. Costa Rica
16. Ireland
17. Germany
18. United States
19. Czech Republic
20. Belgium
