The World's Happiest Countries

There are several variables that are considered in the World's Happiness Report to identify a country and its people as one of the happiest in the world. Among these are their GDP per capita, the social support they receive from the government and the community, their healthy life expectancy, their freedom to make life choices, their generosity, and their trust or absence of corruption in the country. Considering these factors, here are the countries that topped the list.

Denmark

Denmark's life expectancy exceeded the global average of 71 as it maxed up to 80 years. Aside from the study that suggested Danes are genetically made of happy people, they are also one of those countries that has considerably little gap of wealth of the rich and the poor. As Christmas draws near, Danes will practice their culture of hygge and enjoy the company of their family and friends in a warm and cozy atmosphere which also largely contribute to being the happiest people on Earth.

Switzerland

Not far from Denmark, Switzerland continues to develop their country aiming to make its people more comfortable and happy as it was dubbed as "the most competitive country in the world." Their average life expectancy, which is 82.8 years, can also be attributed to the fact that they are gifted with beautiful natural sceneries.

Iceland

Aside from being third in the list of happiest countries, Iceland is dubbed as the "most peaceful nation on Earth" by the Global Peace Index. Its people enjoys low tax rates, free health care and free higher education.

Finland

Aside from the fact that they have Santa Claus, Finland ranked as one of the countries who have a high quality of living, according to Legatum's Institute Prosperity Index, and also one of the peaceful countries in the world, as dubbed by the Global Peace Index.

Norway

Their sense of helping each other stood out as one of the characteristics that made them a happy people. John Helliwell,co-director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, stated that Norweigians "paint each other's houses even though they can all afford to pay to have their houses painted."

"They go out of their way to help each other, and it becomes a social event, and those events are enormously supportive of well-being," Helliwell added.