Demographics
Top 20 Countries Where Older People Are the Happiest
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
Top 20 Countries Where Older People Are the Happiest
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
The newest global happiness index doesn’t have any massive surprises from the ongoing trends of the last decade: Europe generally does the best, Africa is still finding its footing, and Asia and South America have vast rank disparities between constituent nations.
However, as the World Happiness Report notes, happiness levels differ across age groups, and countries’ overall ranks tend to obfuscate how the old and young feel separately. To counter this, the report also creates a happiness index by age.
We’ve visualized the top 20 happiest countries according to those aged above 60. For comparison, we have also included a country’s overall index rank.
Data and Takeaways
The top two countries where the seniors are most satisfied—Denmark and Finland—also happen to be the top two countries on the overall happiness index.
As a general trend, advanced economies make up the bulk of this top 20 list, likely due to their stronger social security systems and financial security. Relatedly, they also tend to do well when it comes to the best countries to retire in.
Country | Happiness Rank (Age 60+) | Overall Happiness Rank (All ages) | Rank Difference |
---|---|---|---|
🇩🇰 Denmark | 1 | 2 | -1 |
🇫🇮 Finland | 2 | 1 | +1 |
🇳🇴 Norway | 3 | 7 | -4 |
🇸🇪 Sweden | 4 | 4 | 0 |
🇮🇸 Iceland | 5 | 3 | +2 |
🇳🇿 New Zealand | 6 | 11 | -5 |
🇳🇱 Netherlands | 7 | 6 | +1 |
🇨🇦 Canada | 8 | 15 | -7 |
🇦🇺 Australia | 9 | 10 | -1 |
🇺🇸 U.S. | 10 | 23 | -13 |
🇦🇪 UAE | 11 | 22 | -11 |
🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 12 | 8 | +4 |
🇰🇼 Kuwait | 13 | 13 | 0 |
🇨🇭 Switzerland | 14 | 9 | +5 |
🇦🇹 Austria | 15 | 14 | +1 |
🇮🇪 Ireland | 16 | 17 | -1 |
🇨🇷 Costa Rica | 17 | 12 | +5 |
🇮🇱 Israel | 18 | 5 | +13 |
🇧🇪 Belgium | 19 | 16 | +3 |
🇬🇧 UK | 20 | 20 | 0 |
Norway, at third, has the first real discrepancy, with its elderly population ranking four places higher compared to its overall 7th place rank.
New Zealand (6th) and Canada (8th) also have gaps with their overall ranks: indicating that the older generation is happier than other generations within the country.
But for the U.S., (10th) and the UAE (11th), this rank discrepancy is in the double-digits.
In fact, when ranking only by those aged below 30, the U.S. ranks outside of the top 50, indicating that its younger residents are significantly unhappier than their older counterparts.
This is an interesting phenomenon mirrored in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. According to the report, as recently as a decade ago, the younger generation in these countries were about as happy as those aged over 60.
“In the West, the received wisdom was that the young are the happiest and that happiness thereafter declines until middle age, followed by substantial recovery.” –- World Happiness Report.
For other countries like Costa Rica (17) and Israel (18), this pattern reverses. Their overall rank is higher than their rank for older populations, indicating that the young are happier.
Demographics
The Countries That Have Become Sadder Since 2010
Tracking Gallup survey data for more than a decade reveals some countries are witnessing big happiness declines, reflecting their shifting socio-economic conditions.
The Countries That Have Become Sadder Since 2010
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Can happiness be quantified?
Some approaches that try to answer this question make a distinction between two differing components of happiness: a daily experience part, and a more general life evaluation (which includes how people think about their life as a whole).
The World Happiness Report—first launched in 2012—has been making a serious go at quantifying happiness, by examining Gallup poll data that asks respondents in nearly every country to evaluate their life on a 0–10 scale. From this they extrapolate a single “happiness score” out of 10 to compare how happy (or unhappy) countries are.
More than a decade later, the 2024 World Happiness Report continues the mission. Its latest findings also include how some countries have become sadder in the intervening years.
Which Countries Have Become Unhappier Since 2010?
Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world right now, and is also 60% unhappier than over a decade ago, indicating how much life has worsened since 2010.
In 2021, the Taliban officially returned to power in Afghanistan, after nearly two decades of American occupation in the country. The Islamic fundamentalist group has made life harder, especially for women, who are restricted from pursuing higher education, travel, and work.
On a broader scale, the Afghan economy has suffered post-Taliban takeover, with various consequent effects: mass unemployment, a drop in income, malnutrition, and a crumbling healthcare system.
Rank | Country | Happiness Score Loss (2010–24) | 2024 Happiness Score (out of 10) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇦🇫 Afghanistan | -2.6 | 1.7 |
2 | 🇱🇧 Lebanon | -2.3 | 2.7 |
3 | 🇯🇴 Jordan | -1.5 | 4.2 |
4 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | -1.3 | 5.6 |
5 | 🇲🇼 Malawi | -1.2 | 3.4 |
6 | 🇿🇲 Zambia | -1.2 | 3.5 |
7 | 🇧🇼 Botswana | -1.2 | 3.4 |
8 | 🇾🇪 Yemen | -1.0 | 3.6 |
9 | 🇪🇬 Egypt | -1.0 | 4.0 |
10 | 🇮🇳 India | -0.9 | 4.1 |
11 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | -0.9 | 3.9 |
12 | 🇨🇩 DRC | -0.7 | 3.3 |
13 | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | -0.7 | 4.4 |
14 | 🇨🇦 Canada | -0.6 | 6.9 |
15 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | -0.6 | 6.7 |
16 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | -0.5 | 5.7 |
17 | 🇵🇦 Panama | -0.5 | 6.4 |
18 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | -0.5 | 4.7 |
19 | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | -0.5 | 3.3 |
20 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | -0.5 | 6.8 |
N/A | 🌍 World | +0.1 | 5.5 |
Nine countries in total saw their happiness score drop by a full point or more, on the 0–10 scale.
Noticeably, many of them have seen years of social and economic upheaval. Lebanon, for example, has been grappling with decades of corruption, and a severe liquidity crisis since 2019 that has resulted in a banking system collapse, sending poverty levels skyrocketing.
In Jordan, unprecedented population growth—from refugees leaving Iraq and Syria—has aggravated unemployment rates. A somewhat abrupt change in the line of succession has also raised concerns about political stability in the country.
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