Denmark, renowned for its bicycle culture, is officially the happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report Update 2016, released Wednesday by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations. The country bumped Switzerland down a rank from the No. 1 spot by just a few decimals.
This year's World Happiness Report is written by a group of individual experts who evaluated 156 countries' well-being and lifestyle by measuring universally valuable constructs, like income, social support, having the freedom to make life choices and healthy life expectancy.
For the first time the report, which launched in 2012, found that one key to a country's happiness is the equality of happiness. "[The researchers] now argue that the inequality of well-being provides a broader measure of inequality," the authors wrote. "They find that people are happier living in societies where there is less inequality of happiness."
The 10 Happiest Countries:
10. Sweden
9. Australia
8. New Zealand
7. Netherlands
6. Canada
5. Finland
4. Norway
3. Iceland
2. Switzerland
1. Denmark
The 10 Least Happy Countries:
10. Madagascar
9. Tanzania
8. Liberia
7. Guinea
6. Rwanda
5. Benin
4. Afghanistan
3. Togo
2. Syria
1. Burundi