A recent survey has revealed that United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, emerged as the happiest Arab nations during 2020-22, which was the peak time of the pandemic.
The report “World Happiness, Trust, and Social Connections in Times of Crisis” surveyed people from 137 countries for three years. It looked at GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom of choice, generosity, and freedom from corruption.
The report placed Finland at the top of the Happiness rating and Afghanistan as well as Lebanon at the bottom. The three Arab nations, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain were listed at 26, 30, and 42, respectively.
In total, 13 Arab countries made it to the list, with UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain among the top third of the global ranking. Nine Arab states, including Djibouti, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Oman, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen were not ranked.
Other countries ranked at the bottom included Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Palestine, Mauritania, Egypt, Jordan, Comoros, and Tunisia. Here is the list of the ten happiest countries in the world, according to the report:
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Israel
- The Netherlands
- Sweden
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Luxembourg
- New Zealand
The report for 2022 also revealed that there was a 25% increase in kind acts compared to before the pandemic while countries with higher levels of public trust had better pandemic responses.
It also noted that the people living in challenging conditions like poor health or unemployment benefited from high trust levels in their communities. The findings demonstrate that even in terrible times, people can be compassionate to others.
