Life News
Finland happiest for a ninth year; Costa Rica reaches 4th as Canada and the UK slip
Finland is the world's happiest country for the ninth year in a row, according to the 2026 World Happiness Report, based largely on Gallup polling. Iceland and Denmark came second and third, and Costa Rica rose to fourth. FOX 5 New York called it the first time Costa Rica has reached the top five and the highest ranking ever for a Latin American country. Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg and Switzerland complete the top ten. Afghanistan ranked last.
The United States came 23rd, up one place from its lowest-ever 24th last year. The travel magazine Afar reported that the UK fell to 29th from 23rd. FOX 5 highlighted a drop in young people's happiness in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, averaging 0.86 points on a 0–10 scale, while several Central and Eastern European countries saw some of the largest youth gains.
“Heavy usage is associated with much lower wellbeing” — Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, via Afar
Romania Insider led with its own country, which climbed one place to 34th.
How each outlet framed it
- FOX 5 New York — where the US ranks, and the slide in youth wellbeing in English-speaking countries.
- Afar — a travel lens: Finland's more than 3 million saunas and its love of nature and simple pleasures.
- Romania Insider — the home-country result and how the report scores nations.
Where the numbers differ: Afar says Canada fell to 25th from 18th in 2025; FOX 5 says it dropped from 6th. The count of countries also varies, from 147 in Afar to 150 in Romania Insider.