And the happiest place in the world is…

DENMARK is the happiest nation in the world, according to a UN survey .

Health, access to medical care, family relations, job security, political freedom and levels of government corruption are among the measures used to gauge happiness for the report.

Denmark, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and Lego, knocked last year’s winner Switzerland into second place to take the title of the happiest place on earth.

Next on the list are Denmark’s Nordic cousins Iceland, Norway and Finland.

A combination of a relatively high GDP, good life expectancy and high levels of social support gives these western European countries the edge over the other nations.

At the other end of the spectrum, troubled Syria and Burundi were ranked as the unhappiest countries out of the 157 assessed in the survey.

The US came 13th, behind Canada in sixth place, followed by the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden and Israel. China was ranked 83rd and Russia was 56th.

Some countries that have experienced dramatic turmoil also saw significant drops in their rankings since last year’s survey.

Greece slipped from 120th to 126th place, as did Spain and Italy, which were also hit hard by the eurozone crisis.

On why Denmark is such a happy place, Knud Christensen, a social worker from Copenhagen, said: “We have no worries. And if we do worry, it’s about the weather. Will it rain today, or remain grey or will it be cold?” – Daily Mail

South Africa was ranked 116th, down three places since last year.