Luxembourg is ranked eighth in the world's happiest countries, according to the “World Happiness Report”, produced by the Gallup Institute, with the support of the UN.

This year again, Finland dominates the ranking, Denmark being 2nd and Switzerland 3rd. Our neighbors are not badly off either: Belgium is 20th, France 21st, and Germany 13th.

Afghanistan is the last of the 149 countries ranked this year, preceded by Zimbabwe and Rwanda.

No survey in 2020 in Luxembourg

To establish the ranking, the authors conduct interviews with residents of the various countries to gauge their level of happiness. These data are then crossed with national GDP, international indices of solidarity, individual freedom and corruption. And this is what allows Luxembourg to improve its ranking this year, since Gallup did not conduct any survey in 2020. The average “felt happiness” was built on the figures collected in 2018-2019. It is therefore the other indices that have increased the overall score, thanks in particular to the good resistance of the economy to the throes of the health crisis.

A pandemic that is obviously noticeable in the figures globally, with “a significantly higher frequency of negative emotions in about a third of countries.” Nevertheless, 22 countries also saw a positive change in this indicator. “This may be surprising, but there was, on average, no decline in wellbeing in people's assessment of their own lives. One possible explanation is that people see covid-19 as a common, external threat that harms everyone and that has led to a greater sense of solidarity and empathy,” concludes John Helliwell, one of the experts who conducted the study.