From Nordic trust to Costa Rica’s sense of community, residents explain what daily life looks like in the countries topping the 2026 World Happiness Report.
While the Nordic countries have long dominated the World Happiness Report, 2026 brought one surprise. For the first time in the report’s 14-year history, a Latin American country made its way into the top five as Costa Rica continued its multi-year rise to fourth place, jumping from 23rd in 2023.
The rankings, produced annually by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, are based on a three-year average of how residents in 140 countries rate their own lives alongside factors such as GDP, social support, life expectancy, perceived freedom, generosity and corruption. For the second year in a row, no major English-speaking countries made the top 10, with Australia at 15th, the United States at 23rd, Canada at 25th and the UK at 29th.
This year, the countries in the top five each have unique aspects contributing to their happiness, though freedom to make life choices scores highly among all of them. We spoke to residents living in each country to find out what contributes to the daily and long-term sense of happiness – and how travellers can experience a taste of the local “happy life” when they visit.
1. Finland
For nine of the past 10 years, Finland has ranked number one. The country scores highly for social support and low perceived corruption, and residents often point to the social safety net – including education and healthcare – that creates a sense of security and wellbeing.
