Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh placed 129th among 143 countries in overall happiness ranking in the annual World Happiness Report. The country was among the bottom 15 countries.
Finland ranked as the happiest country in the global happiness index in the world for the seventh time in a row.
It was followed by two more Scandinavian countries – Denmark and Iceland.
The report was released on Wednesday on the occasion of International Day of Happiness as the World Happiness Report 2024, a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
The report is based on data from US market research organisation Gallup, analysed by a global team now led by the University of Oxford.
Bangladesh placed 11 staged down from neighboring Myanmar as the military junta ruling country secured 118th placed in the list of the 143 nations.
Meanwhile, the report shed light on the fact that happiness level is not the same at all ages.
Low happiness levels among middle-aged (30-59 years) people have caused Bangladesh to dip down 11 notches in a global well being index, while Nordic nations retain their grip on the top spots.
In the report, Bangladesh was in 118th position in the previous report, down from 94th position 2022, and 101st in the 2021 rankings. The country was 107th in 2020 and 125th in 2019.
Meanwhile, in this year’s index, Pakistan secured 108th place above all of the south Asian countries while India placed 126 which also ranked 12 staged down from Myanmar.
Sri Lanka placed 128th place close to Bangladesh while Afghanistan ranked the bottom in the list. Apart from these, the most developed and rich nations USA and Germany failed to secure their positions in the first 20 countries this year.
The two nations placed 23th and 24th ranks respectively.
On the other hand, Costa Rica and Kuwait secured their ranks among the first 20 countries as they placed 12th and 13th ranks in the Index respectively.