To the surprise of absolutely no one, Norway has been declared the world's happiest country. Just as unsurprising, the Democratic Republic of Congo came last.
The United Nations Human Development Index 2011 measures happiness in different countries based on factors such as income, education, health, life expectancy, economy, gender equality and sustainability.
"To be more accurate, one would say this measures the quality of life. It goes beyond income to include basic measures like education and health," says Surekha Subarwal, U.N. communications representative from New Delhi.
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Essentially the index implies that if you live longer, earn more money and have access to good schools and healthcare, you're probably going to be happier than people who don't.
“This is more than just the traditional index which just measure average income, health and education,” says Adam Rogers, the U.N.'s communications officer in Geneva. "This measurement of human wellbeing and happiness introduces the inequality dimension, a measure of access to health and education.”
Bhutan, the only country that gauges its progress by measuring its people's happiness rather than economic contributions, came a rather lowly 141.
Rogers clarifies, “This study is much more empirical than the Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index you will find in Bhutan, which is quite subjective.”
Just missing out on a top 10 spot was Switzerland in 11th place. The United States came fourth while the United Kingdom came 28th, below Hong Kong (13th), Korea (15th), France (20th), Singapore (26th) and the Czech Republic (27th).