Finland has been named the Happiest Country in the World for a second year in a row, while Bulgaria is the worst performer in the EU ranked 97^th out of a 156 countries.

The 2019 World Happiness Report was commissioned by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. It was released on Wednesday, March 20, celebrated as World Happiness Day.

The annual ranking is based on how happy a country’s citizens perceive themselves to be, and takes into account circumstance such as life expectancy, welfare support, social freedoms, generosity as well as the absence of corruption in government and business.

The 2019 World Happyness Report concentrates on “happiness and the community” as well as the role of social media and technology, social norms, conflicts and government policies for people’s lives.

“The world is a rapidly changing place,” said John Helliwell, a professor at the University of British Columbia and co-editor of the report.

“How communities interact with each other whether in schools, workplaces, neighborhoods or on social media has profound effects on world happiness,”  he added.

Besides Finland, the top five of the world’s happiest countries include also Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Netherlands, with 11 EU member states present in the top 20, including Germany and the UK. The other EU heavyweights, France and Italy, are ranked 24^th and 36^th respectively.

In addition to Bulgaria, the other worst EU performance in the 2019 happiness ranking are Greece (82^nd), Croatia (75^th), Portugal (66^th), and Hungary (62^nd).

The last five spots in the 2019 ranking, of the least happy countries in the world, are occupied by Rwanda, Tanzania, Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.

Crisis-ridden Venezuela, ranked 108^th, has seen the sharpest drop in happiness levels over the past decade, the 2019 report shows.

Full text of the 2019  World Happiness Report read here

(Banner image: World Happiness Report 2019)