hankyoreh

A person takes a photo of a sunset in Finland, the country that ranked No. 1 in the world in terms of happiness in 2021. (Pixabay)

South Korea ranks 59th among 146 countries in terms of happiness, according to a recent UN report.

The UN-backed Sustainable Development Solutions Network published the “World Happiness Report 2022” on Friday. Since 2012, the SDSN has been quantifying the happiness of people around the world for the happiness index it publishes in these reports.

The happiness index is based on data from the past three years in six categories, including gross domestic product adjusted for purchasing power parity, life expectancy and social support. The data comes from the Gallup World Poll, which asks 1,000 people from each country about how satisfied they are with their lives.

Korea’s happiness index from 2019 to 2021 was 5.935, which placed it 59th among the countries surveyed. That was higher than the Philippines (60th, 5.904) and China (72nd, 5.585), but lower than Japan (54th, 6.039) and Greece (58th, 5.948). In the report, Korea scored fairly high on GDP and life expectancy, but lower in the other categories. It also had one of the lowest scores of the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In last year’s world happiness report, Korea ranked 62nd among 149 countries. It ranked 54th in 2019, 57th in 2018, 56th in 2017, and 58th in 2016.

The country with the highest happiness score this year was Finland, with 7.821 points. That wasn’t the only country in Northern Europe to score in the top 10: Denmark stood in second place (7.636), Sweden in seventh (7.384), and Norway in eighth (7.365).

Western Europe was also represented in the top 10, with Switzerland in fourth place (7.512) and the Netherlands in fifth (7.415). The highest-ranking country in East Asia was Taiwan (6.512), in 26th.

By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]