Worlds first happy map

The first ever ‘world map of happiness’ has been produced by a psychologist in the UK.

Adrian White, from the University of Leicester’s School of Psychology, analysed previously published data to create a global projection of subjective well-being: the first world map of happiness.

The meta-analysis is based on the findings of over 100 different studies around the world, which questioned 80,000 people worldwide. For this study the data has been analysed in relation to health, wealth and access to education.

Adrian White said: “The concept of happiness, or satisfaction with life, is currently a major area of research in psychology. There is also increasing political interest in using measures of happiness as a national indicator in conjunction with measures of wealth.”

The researchers have argued that regular testing as collaboration between academics in different countries would enable changes in happiness to be tracked and allow the events that cause the changes to be understood. 

“It is worth remembering that the UK is doing relatively well in this area, coming 41st out of 178 nations,” said White. According to the study the top ten happiest countries are:

White's map shows the worlds happy hot-spots