World Happiness Report 2020: UAE 1st in GCC

The UAE has been ranked the happiest country in the GCC, according to the World Happiness Report 2020. The report measures the indicators of happiness, well-being and quality of life, and it is the eighth report since the launch of the index. Globally, the UAE ranked 21. Finland was declared to be the world’s happiest nation for the third year running, followed by Denmark and Switzerland. Other GCC countries included in the list are Saudi Arabia (27th position globally and 2nd in the GCC), Bahrain (40th position globally and 3rd in the GCC) and Kuwait (48th position globally and 4th in the GCC). South Sudan was ranked the unhappiest country of the world, followed by the Central African Republic at second spot, Afghanistan at third and Tanzania, Rwanda, Yemen, Malawi, Syria, Botswana and Haiti, respectively at the next spots.

"These changes are very large, especially for the 10 most affected gainers and losers,” researchers say in the report, which is also the eighth since it began reporting happiness. The data for this year’s World Happiness Report was collected in 2018 and 2019 and is therefore not impacted by the widespread restrictions imposed by many countries to stem the spread of the COVID-19.