Ghana has dropped five positions in the latest World Happiness Report released by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup.
The research, which is also published in partnership with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board placed Ghana as the 125th happiest country in the world out of a total of 147 countries and 26th in Africa.
This year’s report covers the period between 2022 to 2024, compared to the 2024 edition covering the period between 2021 to 2023, where Ghana placed 120th out of 143 countries in the world and 25th in Africa.
The global happiness ranking is based on a single question that asks people to evaluate the quality of their life on a 0 – 10 scale, with Finland topping the rankings since 2018.
The rankings, which was led by Nordic countries, was based on several factors, key amongst which include three benevolent acts covered by Gallup World poll which comprises “donating, volunteering, and helping strangers” which varied depending on “cultural and institutional differences.”
Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands occupied the top five positions as the happiest countries in the world, with Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lebanon, Siera Leone and Afghanistan being the five least happiest countries in the world.
According to the report, “during 2024, the COVID-era surge in benevolent acts fell significantly but remains more than 10% higher than 2017-19 levels almost everywhere.”
Several independent variables were also used, which included GDP per capita, Social support, Healthy life expectancy at birth, Freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption amongst others.
The full 2025 report can be accessed here.
