·      Canada is the 7th happiest

 ·       India ranks 133 out of 156 countries

Finland is the world’s happiest country, according to an annual survey that found Americans were getting less happy even as their country became richer.

The top 10 countries included: Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia. Canada was in 7th place in last year’s report as well. This year, Canada scored 7.3. Finland’s score is 7.6. India was ranked 133, while Burundi came bottom in the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) 2018 World Happiness Report which ranked 156 countries according to things such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption. The United States came in at 18th, down from 14th place last year. Britain was 19th and the United Arab Emirates 20th.

Taking the harsh, dark winters in their stride, Finns said access to nature, safety; childcare, good schools and free healthcare were among the best things about in their country. Finland rose from fifth place last year to oust Norway from the top spot. One chapter of the 170-page report is dedicated to emerging health problems such as obesity, depression and the opioid crisis, particularly in the United States where the prevalence of all three has grown faster than in most other countries.

While US income per capita has increased markedly over the last half century, happiness has been hit by weakened social support networks, a perceived rise in corruption in government and business and declining confidence in public institutions.

The foreign-born were least happy in Syria, which has been mired in civil war for seven years.