April 2015: The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) organized the launch event of the World Happiness Report 2015, which analyzes what makes people happy, provides an overview of the state of happiness around the world, and offers advice for policy makers.

Released on 23 April 2015, the World Happiness Report 2015 contains analysis from experts in the fields of economics, neuroscience and national statistics, and describes how measurements of subjective well-being can be used to assess national progress. It looks at the happiness levels in 158 countries, and examines the reasons behind the statistics, identifying Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada as the countries with the highest levels of happiness, followed by Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

The report is published by SDSN and edited by John Helliwell, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Richard Layard, Director of the Well-Being Programme at the London School of Economics’ (LSE) Centre for Economic Performance, and Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Columbia University Earth Institute and SDSN.

“We are encouraged that more and more governments around the world are listening and responding with policies that put well-being first. Countries with strong social and institutional capital not only support greater well-being, but are more resilient to social and economic crises,” noted Helliwell at the launch event, held on 24 April 2015, in New York, US. Layard said, “As we consider the value of happiness in today’s report, we must invest early on in the lives of our children so that they grow to become independent, productive and happy adults, contributing both socially and economically.” Sachs underlined that the report “gives evidence on how to achieve societal well-being. It’s not by money alone, but also by fairness, honesty, trust, and good health. The evidence here will be useful to all countries as they pursue the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

The World Happiness Report 2015 builds on the first two reports, published in 2012 and in 2013, has updated global rankings of the happiest countries, and identifies as key components to a happy life: income; healthy life expectancy; freedom to make life choices; perceptions of corruption; social support; and generosity. It also shows that a key national challenge is to ensure that policies are designed and delivered in ways that enrich the social fabric, and teach the power of empathy to current and future generations. [SDSN Press Release] [Publication: World Happiness Report 2015]