World Happiness Index: At 136th rank, India unhappier than China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal

India's rank has dropped over the years. In 2013, India was placed at 111th rank which has since deteriorated to 139th by 2021 only to marginally increase this year.

Hyderabad: India has been ranked at 136th spot in the World Happiness Index-2022, an annual UN-sponsored index. Finland continues to be the happiest country for the fifth year running. Afghanistan remains the unhappiest at 146th rank, closely followed by Lebanon. It has marginally improved four notches as compared to 139th rank in the Index in 2021.

India's position is way beyond most of the neighbouring countries including 72nd ranked China, 80th Russia, 84th Nepal, 121st Pakistan, 126th Myanmar and 127th Sri Lanka. The World Happiness Index-2022, which is the 10th of the UN sponsored edition, is based on the self-assessment of the people of the particular country and other social and economic parameters.

As per the 2022 World Happiness Report, countries where people “trusted their governments and each other experienced lower COVID-19 death tolls and set the stage for maintaining or rebuilding a sense of common purpose to deliver happier, healthier and more sustainable lives”. India's rank has dropped over the years. In 2013, India was placed at 111th rank which has since deteriorated to 139th by 2021 only to marginally increase this year. This decline has happened irrespective of successive governments and apparent economic progress even as India is being touted as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

India's rank in GDP per capita has remained low at 102 and hardly changed despite a high GDP growth rate in the last four, pre-Covid years of 6%-8%. This decrease seems to indicate that even though GDP increased, the increase in population nulled it out. The Happiness Index also considers positive and negative effects: positive effects measured in happiness, laughter and enjoyment, whereas negative effects are measured in worry, sadness and anger. On both these factors, India's ranking has slipped. Similarly, there has been only a marginal improvement in India's rank (2021 rank: 104) for Healthy Life Expectancy despite being a pharma capital of the world, growing medical tourism or an overall increase in healthcare facilities in the country.