In the list of the happiest people in the world, Nigeria takes 102nd position
The happiest is Libya in Africa continent while Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation ranked 102nd happiest nation in the world out of 143 countries.
In its annual report released on Wednesday, the United Nations World Happiness Report showed that Nigeria fell by seven positions last year where it ranked 95th, indicating that more Nigerians are unhappy.
Libya at 66th position leads the continent as the happiest nation followed by Mauritius, South Africa, Algeria, Congo, Mozambique and Gabon ranking at 70th, 83rd, 85th, 89th, 90th and 95th accordingly.
The report offers insights into the subjective well-being of people worldwide, going beyond mere economic indicators to capture the holistic experience of happiness.
“The World Happiness Report reflects a worldwide demand for more attention to happiness and well-being as criteria for government policy.
“It reviews the state of happiness in the world today and shows how the science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness,” the report said.
It noted that data were observed using six variables – GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption. However, Cantril ladder life-evaluation questions were used in arriving at the rankings.
“Our happiness rankings are not based on any index of these six factors – the scores are instead based on individuals’ own assessments of their lives, in particular, their answers to the single-item Cantril ladder life-evaluation question,” the report stated.
According to the report, young Nigerians under the age of 30 are happier as the country ranked 108th in this category out of 143 countries.
The study showed that many adult Nigerians are less happy with the rank of 130th.