The annual World Happiness Report has again ranked Finland and other Scandinavian countries the most cheerful nations on Earth. Costa Rica and Kuwait entered the top 20 in place of the United States and Germany.
Finland has remained the happiest country in the world for the seventh year a row with nordic neighbors Sweden, Denmark and Iceland also retaining their places in the top 10, according to the annual World Happiness Report published on Wednesday.
But rising unhapiness especially among young people has seen other Western countries drop down the UN-sponsored index, with the United States and Germany dropping out of the top 20 for the first time since the report’s first edition more than a decade ago.
Taking their place were Costa Rica and Kuwait at 12 and 13 respectively, while Eastern European countries Serbia, Bulgaria and Latvia reported the biggest increases in happiness.
Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, remained in last place.
As a European I agree, visiting the US I’m always shocked how nice places are, like Baltimore has got a great atmosphere and a lot of really cool places, Pittsburgh was really cool too with the big fountain and everyone enjoying the river and stuff. They’re both cities I hear people shit on endlessly but compared to most cities I’ve visited in Europe they’re really nice.
My main culture shock in the US is how friendly everyone is, I told a crackhead I didn’t have any cash on me and he recognized my accent said ‘welcome to america’ and it felt like he meant it, my top ten friendliest interactions with strangers are all in the US or Germany.
Your police and boarder control are absolutely crazy of course, it’s scary that there are so many nuts with guns and some of your prices are just fucking wild but all in all anyone saying it’s 3rd world or dystopic is living in a weird fantasy.