Nigeria ranked 12th in Africa, drops three steps in latest happiness report

Nigeria has been ranked 105th happiest country in the latest World Happiness Report.

The placement, among 147 countries sampled, drops three steps downwards from the 102nd position Nigeria finished 12 months ago.

The latest ranking also left Nigeria in 12th position in Africa, with Mauritius, Libya, and Algeria as the top three happiest countries in the region.

Finland retakes the top spot for the eighth successive year in a row.

Nordic countries dominate the top of the list, with Denmark in second place, Iceland in third place, and Sweden in fourth.

Afghanistan is once against the unhappiest country in the world, with Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi and Zimbabwe rounding off the bottom five.

The World Happiness Report (2025), published by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the WHR’s Editorial Board, asked people around the globe to rate their lives to find the world’s happiest country. Rankings are then based on a three-year average of each population’s average quality of life assessment.

This year’s issue focused on the impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness, coupled with the benefits to the recipients of caring behaviour and those who care for others.

The report finds that sharing meals with others is strongly linked to well-being across all global regions. In the USA, the number of people dining alone has increased by 53 per cent over the past two decades.

Household size also greatly impacts happiness, with the happiest households having four or five people living together. In Europe, many people are living on their own, which could impact happiness levels.

The number of young adults who said they have no one they can count on for social support has also increased by 39 per cent since 2006.

Editor of the World Happiness Report, Prof. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, said: “This year’s report pushes us to look beyond traditional determinants like health and wealth. It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are stronger predictors of well-being than expected.

“In this era of social isolation and political polarisation, we need to find ways to bring people around the table again — doing so is critical for our individual and collective well-being.”

Believing that other people will “return your lost wallet is a strong predictor of local happiness”, according to the report’s results.

The Nordic countries rank among the top places for expected and actual returns of wallets, which explains their position at the top of the table.

However, the report finds that most people around the globe are “much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality” as “actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect”.

Recall that Nigeria in 2011 edged a similar report, emerging as the ‘happiest’ country in the world. A Gallup end-of-year poll ranked Nigerians as the most hopeful in the world regarding their economic fortunes for 2011. Last year, Nigeria was positioned as the happiest country in Africa, finishing at 102nd globally after polling 95th in 2023.

This year, 11 African countries are ranked higher. Besides Mauritius (78th), Libya (79th) and Algeria (84th), there are South Africa (95th), Mozambique (96th), Gabon (97th), Cote d’Ivoire (98), Congo (100th), Guinea (102nd), Namibia (103rd) and Cameroon (104th).

Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup, said: “Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back. This year’s report proves we underestimate how kind the world really is. If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.”

Overall, Serbia (31st), Bulgaria (85th) and Georgia (91st) have seen the biggest rises in happiness since the first-ever World Happiness Report in 2012. Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) also enter the top 10 for the first time.