Ghana ranks fourth among the happiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa

General News on Thursday, March 21, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-03-21

Ghana ranked fourth among the happiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The ranking in the Global Happiness Report released on March 20 by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network has allowed Ghana to improve its ranking from 108 (2018) to 99 out of 201.

In the sub-Saharan African rankings, Ghana ranked fourth behind Mauritius (57), Nigeria (85) and Cameroon (96) in the top five, complemented by neighboring countries, Côte d'Ivoire (99).

The ranking was calculated based on an average of three years of surveys conducted by Gallup between 2016 and 2018 and included factors such as gross domestic product, social support from family and friends, life expectancy in good health, the freedom to choose lives, generosity, perceived corruption and the recent emotions of citizens – both happy and sad.

The data "offers governments and individuals around the world the opportunity to rethink public policy as well as individual lifestyle choices to increase happiness and well-being," said Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Solution Network. sustainable development. "We are in an era of increasing negative tensions and emotions and these results highlight the underlying issues that need to be addressed."

Global

For the second consecutive year, Finland dominated the world rankings. Finland is ranked ahead of its Scandinavian neighbors Denmark (2nd), Norway (3rd), Iceland (4th) and the Netherlands, the fifth.

The United States lost a place in 19th place and South Sudan was the least happy country on the list of 156 countries.

Four African countries; Rwanda (152), Tanzania (153), the Central African Republic (155) and South Sudan (156) complete the five lowest ranked countries.