Kenya the happiest nation in East Africa

Kenya the happiest nation in East Africa

Kenya is East Africa’s happiest country according to the latest World Happiness Report. The report prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University ranked Denmark the world’s happiest place out of 157 nations.

Kenya’s neighbors Tanzania and Burundi have been ranked the least happy in the region.

Kenya is, however, not among the top 10 happiest countries in Africa, with Algeria being the continent’s most blissful nation. Kenya is at position 122, interestingly, 46 places behind Somalia, meaning that Somalis are much more contented than Kenyans despite living in a war-torn country.

The world’s top 10 this year were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden. The report prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Earth Institute at Columbia University lists Syria, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi among the 10 least happy places to live in.

The results, which covered 3,000 respondents in each of the 157 countries listed, shows the richest people are not necessarily the happiest. Rich economies like The United States came in at number 13, the United Kingdom at 23, France at 32 and Italy at 50.

But how do you measure happiness levels? Well, the report examined four major factors including per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), healthy years of life expectancy, availability of someone to count on in times of trouble and freedom from corruption in government and business.

Noting that many countries in recent years have achieved economic growth at the cost of sharply rising inequality, entrenched social exclusion, and grave damage to the natural environment, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, head of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and special advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who co-authored the report, urged nations to tackle inequality and protect the environment regardless of wealth.

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