Europe dominates the 2026 World Happiness Report: 19 out of the top 30 happiest countries are European

Top 30 Happiest Countries in the 2026 World Happiness Report. Orange marks indicate European countries. Finland remains at the top with 7.764, with strong European performances overall. 19 out of the Top 30 countries are European.

*Source: World Happiness Report 2026, Figure 2.1 data. Chart created by the author. Data based on the Gallup World Poll (2023-2025).

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Rank	Country	Happiness Score	European
1	Finland	7.764	Yes
2	Iceland	7.540	Yes
3	Denmark	7.539	Yes
4	Costa Rica	7.439	No
5	Sweden	7.255	Yes
6	Norway	7.242	Yes
7	Netherlands	7.223	Yes
8	Israel	7.187	No
9	Luxembourg	7.063	Yes
10	Switzerland	7.018	Yes
11	New Zealand	6.995	No
12	Mexico	6.972	No
13	Ireland	6.928	Yes
14	Belgium	6.926	Yes
15	Australia	6.916	No
16	Kosovo	6.910	Yes
17	Germany	6.882	Yes
18	Slovenia	6.868	Yes
19	Austria	6.845	Yes
20	Czechia	6.821	Yes
21	United Arab Emirates	6.821	No
22	Saudi Arabia	6.817	No
23	United States	6.816	No
24	Poland	6.768	Yes
25	Canada	6.741	No
26	Taiwan	6.714	No
27	Belize	6.711	No
28	Lithuania	6.704	Yes
29	United Kingdom	6.694	Yes
30	Serbia	6.691	Yes

As per the World Happiness Report published in 2026, European countries continue to be the leading ones in the global list of happiest countries. 

The annual report published by University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre ranks the countries based on people's own assessment of their life satisfaction.

In the survey, respondents evaluated their life on a scale of 0-10 points. The final figure is the average over the previous three years from 2023 to 2025. The report examines six main factors that help explain differences in happiness between countries: GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom of making choices in life, generosity, and corruption perceptions.

For nine years running, Finland has remained the happiest country in the world, according to its happiness score of 7.764.

In second place, Iceland has a score of 7.540 followed by Denmark with 7.539. Other countries in Europe especially in the Nordic region and western Europe are also among the happiest in the world including Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, which are all in the top ten happiest countries in the world.

This continent boasts 19 of the 30 top spots in the world happiness ranking. With some of the usual suspects such as Luxembourg, Ireland, Belgium, so on, the list is dominated by countries from Central and Eastern Europe including Slovenia, Austria, Poland, and Serbia.

Among different countries of the world, Costa Rica is a standout among the happiest countries outside Europe, as it has achieved the magnificent position of being ranked 4th in the global happiness index.

Surprisingly, even though national trust and safety nets managed to keep these scores remarkably high, the report has pointed out that we are witnessing the birth of real well-being problems globally, mainly with regard to the younger generations.

References:

• Helliwell, J. F., et al. World Happiness Report 2026

• University of Oxford. Youth Media Finding

• World Happiness Report. Dataset

• Happier Lives Institute. Commentary on Country Ranking and Trends