Africa's Top 10 Happiest Countries

Every year on March 20, the International Day of Happiness, the UN publishes the World Happiness Report, which provides country rankings based on respondent ratings of their life satisfaction. The report provides people the opportunity to compare countries and find out where people are more happy.

As the world marked the International Day of Happiness, Sputnik has prepared an infographic presenting top 10 happiest African countries based on the 2023 World Happiness Report, released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network earlier this week.

The happiness rankings are usually based on a three-year average, as a bigger sample size enables "more precise estimates," according to the report. The measurement of happiness relies on several well-being indicators, including life evaluations. Respondents are asked to evaluate their lives on a scale of one to ten. The report also correlates these evaluations with various quality life factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, social support, and corruption.

According to the report, the happiest African states appeared to be Mauritius, Algeria and South Africa. Globally they are included in the top 100, ranking 59th, 81st and 85th, respectively, out of 137 countries presented in the report. Other African countries featuring in the list below are mainly located in the western part of the continent. The continent's bottom three countries are Sierra Leone (135th place globally), Zimbabwe (134th), and Democratic Republic of the Congo (133rd).