Happy days? We’re not back at boom levels yet...

DESPITE our reputation as one of the cheeriest nations, Ireland failed to feature in a newly compiled list of the world’s top ten happiest countries.

Ireland came in the 15th position on the happiness index list – ahead of the UK in 19th position and just in front of Germany which came in at No.16.

The top ranking nation in terms of happiness between 2014 and 2016 is Norway.

Despite a turbulent presidential election last year, the US ranks ahead of Ireland at No. 14 on the list.

Also ahead of Ireland is Canada which is the seventh happiest nation in the world and New Zealand and Australia which are the eighth and ninth happiest countries respectively.

Compared to the last rankings – which were assessed during the heyday of the Celtic Tiger between 2005 and 2007 – the happiness of the Irish people has decreased slightly.

Nicaragua is the country to undergo the largest increase in happiness since the 2005-2007 rankings.

The least happy nation according to the ranking from 2014-2016 is the Central African Republic.

Countries are scored based on the value of the goods and services produced, their social welfare supports, healthy years of life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption. GDP per capita and social support are the factors contributing most beneficially to Ireland’s happiness according to the index.

The difference between the happiness of the top four countries – Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland – are only slight.