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The second edition of the World Happiness Report, by Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a global initiative of the United Nations, has been released. The report, which spans the 2010 – 2012 period, ranks Nigeria as the 82nd happiest country in the world, and the fifth happiest in Africa, after Angola – 61st, Mauritius – 67th, Algeria – 73rd, and Libya – 78^th, from a survey of 156 nations. “There is now a rising worldwide demand that policy be more closely aligned with what really matters to people as they themselves characterize their well-being,” said Professor Jeffery Sachs, a member of the research team. “More and more world leaders are talking about the importance of well-being as a guide for their nations and the world. The World Happiness Report 2013 offers rich evidence that the systematic measurement and analysis of happiness can teach us a lot about ways to improve the world’s well-being and sustainable development.” The report “delves in more detail into the analysis of the global happiness data, examining trends over time and breaking down each country’s score into its component parts. Measuring on a scale of 0 to 10, the report uses “Six key variables to explain three-quarters of the variation in annual national average scores over time and among countries. These six factors include: real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity.” The Report “also shows the major beneficial side-effects of happiness. Happy people live longer, are more productive, earn more, and are also better citizens. Well-being should be developed both for its own sake and for its side-effects.” The first ten happiest countries are:

Denmark
Norway
Switzerland
Netherlands
Sweden
Canada
Finland
Austria
Iceland
Australia

The United States came at 17th, while the United Kingdom was placed at 22nd. South Africa came at 96th, while Ghana came at 86th. Nigeria points for the ranking was 5.248 on the scale of 10, gaining 0.448 point, from the previous report, for the period of 2005 – 2007, ranking Nigeria at 100.