Burundi places bottom as Denmark tops happy countries list

Denmark is the world’s happiest country while Burundi hits bottom according to a United Nations report that was released on Wednesday.

The report was prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Syria and Afghanistan and other eight sub-Saharan African countries were rated as the least happiest countries to live in.

Denmark overtook Switzerland in this report that also warned that financial prosperity does not necessarily lead to happiness.

“A report like this is a message not only to poor countries. There are even some inexpensive ways to do better: focus on health, focus on improving the honesty of government, doesn’t cost a lot of money and it can be done. It’s a message to rich countries also like the United States that have a kind of pure money mentality and have let the social fabric fall apart,” said Professor Jeffrey Sachs, head of the SDSN and special advisor to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Other countries that are ranked below Denmark include, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Canada.

The World Happiness Report 2016 Update, which ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, was released in Rome in advance of UN World Happiness Day on March 20.

The widespread interest in the World Happiness Report, of which this is the fourth, reflects growing global interest in using happiness and subjective well-being as primary indicators of the quality of human development

This report checked on variables such as real GDP per person, healthy life expectancy, corruption levels and social freedoms. The results come from 2012-2015 Gallup polling data, which included between 2,000 and 3,000 people in each country.