Sri Lanka ranks 132 on global happiness index

Sri Lanka has climbed 5 places in a global ranking of the happiest nations, coming in at the 132nd spot out of 158 countries on the index that took into account GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support and freedom to make life choices as indicators of happiness.

Switzerland has been named the most happiest country in the world, coming in at the number one spot on the 2015 World Happiness Report published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), which is a global initiative for the United Nations.

The other countries in the top five are Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

Sri Lanka’s rank is 132 with 4.271 points, below fellow South Asian nations such as India (117), Pakistan (81) and Bangladesh (109). Even nations such as Palestine (108), Ukraine (111) and Iraq (112) rank higher than the Indian Ocean island nation.

However, the rank is an improvement compared to the country’s position in the previous edition of the report. Sri Lanka was ranked 137th in the second edition of the report published in 2013.

Japan ranks 46th, one place above South Korea while China took 84th spot.

The 2015 World Happiness Report is the third annual report seeking to quantify happiness as a means of influencing government policy. The United Nations published the first study in 2012.