From 128 to 133: Sri Lanka Slips in Global Happiness Rankings

COLOMBO (News 1st); The World Happiness Report 2025 has been released, revealing that Sri Lanka has dropped to the 133rd position, down from 128th in the 2024 report.

A total of 147 countries are ranked in the World Happiness Report.

The World Happiness Report is the world’s foremost publication on global wellbeing and how to improve it.

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

They combine open-access data from over 140 countries with high-quality analysis by world-leading researchers from a wide range of academic disciplines.

The global happiness ranking is based on a single question from the Gallup World Poll, derived from the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale (Cantril Ladder):

"Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?"

The US fell to its lowest-ever ranking in the 2025 edition of the World Happiness Report amid rising social isolation and political polarisation, while Finland and other Nordic countries remained at the top of the index.

Finland continued in the top spot this year, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, Luxembourg, and Mexico.

At the bottom of the index, Afghanistan ranked the lowest, followed by Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Comoros and Lesotho.

The 13th edition of the annual report marks the United Nations International Day of Happiness on March 20.