Finns are looking up for world’s happiest nation

THEY’LL have a lot to smile about in Finalnd after the country was named the happiest in the world yesterday.

It jumped from fifth place last year in the World Happiness Report to oust Norway, which slipped to runner-up.

Britain stayed at 19th place in the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s study. The report ranks 156 nations according to scores for per capita GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption.

For the first time, it included scores for the happiness of migrants, noting ‘remarkable consistency between the happiness of immigrants and the locally born’.

The US sank four places to 18th as it tackles widespread obesity, substance abuse and depression.

The rest of the top ten included Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.

The lowest-ranked country was Burundi in east Africa, which has been scarred by ethnic cleansing, civil wars and coup attempts.