Only 15 countries in the world have a female head of state and just 16 countries have a woman as their head of government, as reported by UN Women.
And yet, according to the latest World Happiness Report, two out of the top five happiest countries in the world are led by women. Similar to last year’s rankings, this ratio suggests countries led by women are often happier.
The report has been coming out annually since 2012 as part of a UN initiative to promote the global “pursuit of happiness as a fundamental human goal”.
In this year’s issue, the focus is placed on the happiness of people at different stages of life. It’s the first time since the inaugural list that happiness levels have been compared to different generations in the rankings.
This year, the title of happiest population in the world has gone to Finland. And it’s the seventh year in a row that the Scandinavian country of around 5.5 million people has taken the top spot. In April last year, Finland voted out their youngest ever leader, Sanna Marin, who was replaced by Petteri Orpo.
Denmark, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, has come in second place. Then, in third place is Iceland, whose leader is Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.
In fourth place is yet another Scandinavian country, Sweden, which is led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who replaced Magdalena Andersson in 2022.
There are a lot of analyses and comparisons to be made out of these rankings, but another significant point is that Iceland, Sweden and Finland are also listed in the top five best countries to be a working woman.
Fifth on the happiness list is Israel, followed by the Netherlands and then Norway. In eighth place is Luxembourg, then Switzerland, and finally, Australia sits at number ten (up from 11th last year).
The top 10 countries on this happiness list have remained largely the same since before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in the next 10 countries, there has been more change.
Notably, the United States has fallen to number 23 on the list, marking the first time the country hasn’t been listed in the top 20 happiest countries.
The report says the decline “is at least partly attributable to Americans under age 30 feeling worse about their lives”. This could be due to a variety of changing factors, but it’s worth noting that, in the US, the wage gap sits at 17 per cent, it’s the only OECD country to not offer any paid maternity or paternity leave, abortion rights were taken away in June 2022 (when Roe v Wade was struck down) and the country has gone down the rankings on this year’s ‘best places to be a working woman‘ list.
Australia ranks as the 9th happiest country in the world for those 60 and older, whereas for those under age 30, the nation’s population doesn’t make it into the top 10.
Across the globe, the data shows younger people (between ages 15 and 24) have typically been happier than older people, except for in North America. In Central and Eastern Europe, younger people tended to report higher levels of happiness than older people, in part because of social connection.
When it comes to the younger ages (10-15), evidence is limited, however, in high income countries, life satisfaction has declined since 2019, especially for girls. By around the age of 12, girls are reporting lower life satisfaction than boys, with the gap widening at ages 13 and 15 – the pandemic has amplified the difference.
The rankings compile self-reported happiness responses on a scale of 0 to 10 from the Gallup World Poll’s sample between 2021 and 2023. Along with this, rankings also factor in a country’s GDP, life expectancy, sense of freedom and absence of corruption.
Ilana Ron Levey, Gallup’s managing director, told Fortune that she thinks the differences in generational happiness levels comes from the strength of people’s community and social ties.
“We know that social support and loneliness affect happiness, and different generations have different levels of social connections,” Levey says.
“Fostering strong social connections, helping others and demonstrating benevolence, and feeling like you have someone to count on in a time of need is crucial for happy aging, just like it is crucial at all ages.”