Norway has been ranked the seventh-happiest country in the world, an honour that pretty much every country below it in the World Happiness Report would be proud to claim.
However, despite remaining stable in the rankings compared to 2024, the country has been on a downward trend since it was named the happiest country in the world in 2017.
The UN Sustainable Development Network has published the World Happiness Report (WHR) every year since 2012.
Approximately 1,000 people from each country participate in the survey annually and are asked to evaluate various aspects of their quality of life.
On a scale of 1 to 10, Norway scored an average of 7.26, a decrease of 0.393 compared to the year before.
Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands were the five happiest countries, with Costa Rica above Norway in sixth.
Experts in Norway pointed to several possible reasons for the slump in Norwegian happiness. Among them were economic concerns among young people, growing inequality, and international unrest.
“We have groups that have completely different lives than the majority. These are those with problems with living conditions, poor finances, poor networks, and poor health. Many young people in particular experience a lot of loneliness, and we see that one of the most important things for quality of life is relationships,” happiness researcher Ragnhild Bang Nes at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI/NIPH) told the Norwegian newswire NTB.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said there was a significant gap in happiness and well-being between those going through money worries and those whose finances were in good shape.
However, more significant, it said, was loneliness when it came to a drop in life satisfaction.
“There is more to gain from a friend than a salary grade,” Nes said.
The NIPH said there had been an increase in people living and eating their meals along since the pandemic.
The health institute wrote in its research on happiness that contentment with life increased when the household size was four and upwards.
“Shared meals are a very strong indicator of quality of life, on par with income and unemployment. Those who share more meals with others report significantly higher levels of life satisfaction,” the report read.
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