Happiest Countries in the World

The Earth Institute at Columbia University has released data from their worldwide survey of happiness, called the 2013 World Happiness Report. Results were gathered between 2010 and 2012, following a previous survey also taken by the Earth Institute five years ago.

The Earth Institute at Columbia University has released data from their worldwide survey of happiness, called the 2013 World Happiness Report.

Results were gathered between 2010 and 2012, following a previous survey also taken by the Earth Institute five years ago.

Northern European countries like Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland topped the list of the world's happiest people.

The United States ranked in as the 17th happiest out of the 156 surveyed, behind Canada at number 6, Mexico at number 16, and Australia at number 10.

People in the United Kingdom are reportedly number 22 on the list, followed by Germany at number 26, Japan at 43, and China coming in as the 93rd happiest country in the world.

Egypt was the country that had the largest fall in happiness over the past five years going from an average happiness in 2007 of 5 point 4 on a scale of one to ten, compared to 4 point 3 in 2012.

The report says: "People can be unhappy for many reasons, but in any particular society, chronic mental illness is a highly influential cause of misery. If we want a happier world, we need a completely new deal on mental health."