What country is the happiest in the world?

Part of the study involved deliberately losing people's wallets to see how many were returned and compared that with how many people thought would be handed in. 

Why? Trust, and that was a key factor in helping determine levels of happiness, according to the latest World Happiness Report.

The rate of wallets returned was almost twice as high as people predicted and the study, which gathered evidence from around the world, found belief in the kindness of others was more closely tied to happiness than previously thought. Many other factors also came into play such as environment and mental health.

So who came out on top? 

Finland ranked as the world's happiest country for the eighth straight year with locals and experts thanking its grand lakes and strong welfare system for boosting its mood.

"It seems that Finnish people are relatively satisfied with their lives," Frank Martela, an assistant professor specialized in well-being and happiness research at Aalto University, said.

"Democracy is functioning well, we have free elections, free speech, low levels of corruption and all of these have shown to predict higher levels of national well-being."

He added that the Nordic countries also all have relatively strong welfare systems - with parental leave, unemployment benefits and mostly universal healthcare - which also contribute to higher levels of well-being on average.

Nordic countries all stayed among the 10 happiest, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland, which slightly extended its lead over runner-up Denmark.

The UK slipped to 23rd. The U.S. fell to 24th place - its lowest happiness ranking ever partly due to a rise in the number of Americans eating their meals alone, an annual UN-sponsored report said. 

The report surveyed people worldwide in 2022-2024, before U.S. President Donald Trump's shakeup of national and global affairs since returning to the White House in January.

Eating habits

Sharing meals with others was strongly linked with wellbeing across the globe. The study suggested household size was closely linked to happiness, with four to five people living together enjoying the highest levels of happiness in Mexico and Europe.

Afghanistan once again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, at the sixth and 10th spot respectively.

The happiness ranking is based on a three-year average of individuals' self-assessed evaluations of life satisfaction, as well as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.

This year, the authors of the happiness report said new evidence indicates that engaging in acts of generosity and believing in the kindness of others are "significant predictors of happiness, even more so than earning a higher salary".

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre, said: "In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again - doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing."