Pakistan beat India on UN’s World Happiness Index

LAHORE (Web Desk) – Pakistanis are more happy than Indians, a new report has shown.

Ranked at 92 out of 157 countries in the World Happiness Report 2016, Pakistan has outrun India with more happiness level.

The report, released in advance of UN World Happiness Day on March 20, for the first time gives a special role to the measurement and consequences of inequality in the distribution of well-being among countries and regions, using factors such as per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and healthy years of life expectancy.

Leading experts across fields – economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, health, public policy and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations.

India (118) comes below nations like Somalia (76), China (83), Iran (105), Palestinian Territories (108) and Bangladesh (110).

Denmark takes the top spot as the happiest country in the world, displacing Switzerland.

Switzerland was ranked second on the list, followed by Iceland (3), Norway (4) and Finland (5).

UAE ranked the highest in the GCC with Saudi Arabia at 34, Qatar at 36, Kuwait at 41, and Bahrain at 42. The US is ranked 13th, coming behind Australia (9) and Israel (11).

Previous reports have argued that happiness provides a better indicator of human welfare than do income, poverty, education, health and good government measured separately but now they also point out that the inequality of well-being provides a broader measure of inequality.

“People are happier living in societies where there is less inequality of happiness. They also find that happiness inequality has increased significantly (comparing 2012-2015 to 2005-2011) in most countries, in almost all global regions, and for the population of the world as a whole,” the report said.

Source: Economic Times