What Makes
Countries Happy?

Section 01

Global Happiness Over Time

Average happiness scores across all surveyed countries, 2015–2019. Despite dramatic global events during this period, aggregate wellbeing proved remarkably stable — rising just 0.031 points (less than 1%) over five years. Hover over the chart to explore each year's figure.

Section 02

The Happiest Countries by Year

Northern European nations consistently dominate the top 10. Select a year below to see how the rankings shifted — Finland broke through to number one in 2018 and has held the position ever since.

Section 03

What Drives Happiness?

Six factors were compared against happiness scores using Pearson correlation. GDP per capita (r = 0.79) and life expectancy (r = 0.74) lead by a wide margin. Generosity, surprisingly, has almost no predictive power (r = 0.14). Switch the scatter plot between GDP and Freedom to compare relationships.

Section 04

Does Money Buy Happiness?

GDP is the strongest single predictor of happiness (r = 0.79) — but the relationship is more nuanced than it first appears. Wealth doesn't make citizens feel rich. It funds the infrastructure of wellbeing: universal healthcare, social safety nets, low corruption, and the freedom to live as you choose. Three patterns in the data tell this story clearly.

The Full Package

🇫🇮 Finland — The Nordic Model

7.769Happiness 1.340GDP score #1Global rank

Finland isn't the wealthiest country — the US, Qatar, and Singapore all have higher GDPs. What it has is how that wealth is spent: universal healthcare, free university education, high social trust, and consistent anti-corruption. GDP enables the environment; the environment creates happiness.

Wealth Without Wellbeing

🇶🇦 Qatar — The Wealth Paradox

6.374Happiness 1.684GDP score #29Global rank

Qatar has the highest GDP per capita in the 2019 dataset — yet ranks 29th in happiness. Low social freedom scores, limited generosity (0.08), and concentrated wealth mean that economic power doesn't translate into broad-based wellbeing. Money alone is not enough.

The Outlier

🇨🇷 Costa Rica — Happy With Less

7.167Happiness 1.034GDP score #12Global rank

Costa Rica's GDP is lower than Russia's, lower than China's. Yet it ranks 12th in the world for happiness — beating the United States. In 1948 it abolished its military entirely, redirecting that budget permanently into healthcare and education.

Section 05

Predict Your Country's Happiness Score

Using a multiple linear regression model trained on all 782 observations, adjust the six sliders to match your country's profile and see where it would rank. Sliders default to the 2019 world average.

Section 06

What Do You Think?

The data tells one story — but your perspective matters too. Share your view on what drives happiness and see how others responded.

Section 07

Key Conclusions