Nigeria drops 38 spots in six years, now 116th on world happiness index

In six years, Nigerians went from being the 78th happiest people on earth to being the 116th — according to the World Happiness Report released by the United Nations.

The 2021 edition of the report, which measures “subjective well-being” – how happy the people are, and why — was released by the UN on Friday.

Nigerians were ranked the 116th happiest people on earth out of 149 countries surveyed between 2018 and 2020 — a point worse than the previous year.

The figures were better off in 2019 when Africa’s giant ranked 85th.

NIGERIA’S RANK OVER THE YEARS

2015 – 78th
2017 – 95th
2018 –  91th
2019 – 85th
2020 –  115th
2021 – 116th

Finland, Denmark and Switzerland were ranked the top three happiest countries, respectively, while Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are the least three happy countries.

Libya, ranked 80th, is the happiest African country, while Nigeria came a distant 15th on the continent.

Considering the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the report noted that its finding “shows that COVID-19 has led to only modest changes in the overall rankings, reflecting both the global nature of the pandemic and a widely shared resilience in the face of it”.

“This ninth World Happiness Report is unlike any that have come before. COVID-19 has shaken, taken, and reshaped lives everywhere. In this chapter, our central purpose remains just what it has always been – to measure and use subjective well-being to track and explain the quality of lives all over the globe,” it reads.

The reports on world happiness are aimed at influencing government policy with data accrued from Gallup world polls, real GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, healthy life expectancy, corruption levels, and social freedoms.