You and the Happiness Report 2026

THERE IS MORE GOOD NEWS IN THE WORLD THAN BAD  

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy” – Dalai Lama 

I wrote my first story about the newly created World Happiness Report about 10 years ago. It was then a new thing. While still not mainstream, news stories about the Happiness Report now appear from time to time in everyday media, and there are now an increasing number of discussions amongst people who care about such things. Furthermore, the reasons behind the Report scores now provide meaningful input towards the development of public policy in many countries.

THE  REPORTS ORIGIN

Over 50 years ago (1972), the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was struggling trying to determine how best he could lead his tiny kingdom of Bhutan. Bhutan is a small mountainous country of about 800,000 people, nestled high in the Himalayas between India and China. It is a Buddhist country with no natural resources and few roads. The King realized Bhutan would never be wealthy. After much thought and contemplation, he concluded that what he, the king, could do was to help bring happiness to the people of Bhutan. This was a logical thing to do, as happiness is one of the main tenets of Buddhism. In fact, the Dalai Lama, the leader of Buddhism, who lives about 1300 km away, has  

Slowly, the idea caught on and with the help of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, headed by economist Jeffrey Sachs, and others, including former U.B.C and now retired professor John Helliwell, Richard Layard from the London School of Economics, and the Gallup World Poll, an index was created. On June 28^th, 2012, UN resolution 65/309, called the “Happiness Index Towards a Holistic Approach to Development,” was passed, and at the same time March 20^th was declared as World Happiness Day. 

Now we receive an annual update from 150 countries on their state of happiness, published by Oxford University. The index, it should be noted, is now more commonly called a report, but still provides a comparative state of happiness of countries.

Unsurprisingly, there are skeptics and cynics and many questions raised around the measurement of happiness, such as: 

• How can you measure happiness?
• How accurate is it that “you can be happy one day but unhappy the next”?  
• What are the criteria used to determine happiness? 
• How does my country measure up? 
• How do other countries measure up?
• Why does it matter?
• What can be done with the results? 

These are all excellent questions.

THE CRITERIA 

To establish the index/report, the Gallup organization interviews a carefully selected cross-section of 1000 people from each country. They do this for 3 years (i.e. 3000 people in total). The primary evaluation is based on the Cantril ladder, in which people evaluate their personal life and level of happiness on a scale of 0-10. 

Questions are adjusted to take into consideration different cultures; however, the core question is the same. All of the scores for the people interviewed are then averaged and become the country’s score. 

In order to understand and explain the differences in the scores, a number of criteria are considered, all of which can affect one’s happiness. They are: 

• The GDP per capita of the country
• The social support people have in place, including whether people have friends or family to count on in times of trouble 
• The country’s health and life expectancy
• The freedom the person has to make life choices
• One’s generosity, taking into consideration recent donations or charitable actions 
• The  perceived corruption of the amount of corruption in the country 

It should also be noted that the process is reviewed and refined regularly.

WHO IS THE HAPPIEST 

In 2026, the 10 happiest countries in order are Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, Luxembourg, and Mexico. Here is the link to the full list. Finland was first for the 9^th straight year; the Scandinavian countries are consistently in the top 10. Canada is 26^th, down from the previous year, and the U.S., to the surprise of many, is 25^th. Most people I speak to find this hard to believe – remember it is a 3 year average. Also hard to believe is that Israel is at #9, with Afghanistan, not surprisingly, in last place. Bhutan is not measured as they have their own index. 

Why is Canada so low, and why has it slipped? The answer given is that many of our young people (Gen Zers) are unhappy…in large part because of the difficulty in getting a job, the price of housing, and the threat of AI. Looking at the criteria above, it is easy to see how these factors could affect the happiness levels of young people. While this information can be obtained from other sources, the answers are a great tool for making public policy. If I were a politician, it would make me ask the questions. Is this true? What can be done about it, and make me want to take some action? 

The index /report also digs deeper into the happiest and unhappiest cities and provinces. 

Copenhagen in Denmark is considered to be the happiest city, not a huge surprise given Denmark’s tradition of Hygge**, which gets them through the winter, their love of the outdoors, their views on the environment, their social policies, their balance between the private and public sector, and their generosity to each other and support of the developing world. Canada’s happiest big city is Montreal, and the happiest smallest city is Rouyn/Noranda. There are other indexes. Click here for the complete scores by country, by Canadian province and Canadian city.

INDIVIDUALS  

The Cantril ladder provides a way to determine one’s overall happiness; however, many want to dig deeper. Humans are continually in search of happiness, and in fact we humans can be happy one day but down in the dumps the next day. Furthermore, what makes one person happy may not make another person happy. In reality, there are many things that can make a person happy. Books have been written about how to be happy, scientific studies are conducted, and quotes can be found everywhere about happiness. As previously stated, the Dalai Lama believes the purpose of our lives is to be happy.  

Renowned Stanford University Psychologist Thomas Plante has advanced 10 core behavioural practices one needs to follow to be happy:  

1. Avoid social comparisons
2. Practice mindfulness 
3. Learn to forgive 
4. Show compassion
5. Be grateful
6. Nurture relationships
7. Make others happy
8. Accept disappointments 
9. Look for the positive 
10. Live your own life 

Others have developed their own criteria. Out of interest, I checked AI, which seems to be everywhere whether we like it or not, and gathers info from many sources. It says to be happy, one needs to: 

1. Develop close relationships 
2. Feel understood 
3. Have a sense of purpose
4. Have enough autonomy to make meaningful choices 
5. Have the physical basics such as sleep, movement, food, rest and good health
6. You have enjoyable experiences and curiosity
7. Gratitude and appreciation for what is present 
8. Help and contribute to other people 
9. Enough money to provide for security, stability and freedom from constant financial stress*

In my opinion, none of these are the complete path to a happy life, but everyone seems to agree you cannot be happy all of the time. If, however, you can check most of the above, in general you should be a fairly happy person. The Dalai Lama has reminded us, however, that TO BE HAPPY you need to personally take action. The GOOD NEWS is we in Canada live in an environment where we can take action most of the time, and by improving the components outlined above we can make a better life not only for ourselves but for others, not only in Canada, but around the world too. 

Till next time,

Chris Snyder, Climate Optimist

**For a full story on Hygge, you can read in my book 52+ Good News Stories: Hope in a Complex World, page 72