Those looking for greater happiness and satisfaction in life should head to northern Europe , but steer clear of Egypt and countries worst hit by the eurozone crisis , according to the 2013 World Happiness Report released Monday by Columbia University 's Earth Institute . Denmark , Norway , Switzerland , the Netherlands and Sweden are the world 's happiest countries , according to the survey of 156 countries . Rwanda , Burundi , the Central African Republic , Benin and Togo -- all nations in Sub-Saharan Africa -- are the least satisfied with their lives , the report said . The United States came in at number 17 in the world in terms of overall happiness , but it still lags behind Canada ( 6 ) , Australia ( 10 ) , Israel ( 11 ) the United Arab Emirates ( 14 ) and Mexico ( 16 ) , according to the Earth Institute . The report ranks the United Kingdom as the 22nd happiest country in the world . Other major nations included Germany ( 26 ) , Japan ( 43 ) , Russia ( 68 ) and China ( 93 ) . Life 's ups and downs . The global survey was conducted between 2010 and 2012 and follows the Earth Institute 's first rankings released last year . While `` the world has become a slightly happier and more generous place over the past five years , '' economic and political upheavals have resulted in greatly reduced levels of well being for some nations , the report said . Rankings for Greece , Italy , Portugal and Spain fell dramatically because of the impact of the eurozone crisis , while Egypt , Myanmar and Saudi Arabia registered large falls in the wake of recent political and civil turmoil . Egypt had the greatest fall in happiness levels . On a scale of 1 to 10 -- with 10 rated as happiest -- Egypt averaged 4.3 in 2012 , compared to 5.4 in 2007 . `` We expect , and find , that these losses are far greater than would follow simply from lower incomes , '' the report said , noting that the greatest single factor reducing happiness levels in these countries was a reduction in people 's perceived `` freedom to make key life choices . '' Angola , Zimbabwe and Albania experienced the largest increases across all the countries surveyed . `` On a regional basis , by far the largest gains in life evaluations in terms of the prevalence and size of the increases have been in Latin America and the Caribbean , and in Sub-Saharan Africa '' , the report said . Reduced levels of corruption also contributed to the rise . Governments seeking to improve the happiness of their populations should spend a higher proportion of their health budgets on mental illness , which is the single biggest `` determinant of misery '' in countries assessed , the study authors said . `` People can be unhappy for many reasons -- from poverty to unemployment to family breakdown to physical illness , '' the report said . `` But in any particular society , chronic mental illness is a highly influential cause of misery . `` If we want a happier world , we need a completely new deal on mental health . '' Gross National Happiness . The 2013 World Happiness Report comes on the back of a growing global movement calling for governments and policy makers to reduce their emphasis on achieving economic growth and focus on policies that can improve people 's overall well-being . An idea first proposed in 1972 by Bhutan 's former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck , the concept of `` happiness economics '' has now gained traction in many countries across the world , including the UK , Germany and South Korea . The UN first encouraged member countries to measure and use the happiness of their people to guide public policies in July 2011 . `` It is important to balance economic measures of societal progress with measures of subjective well-being to ensure that economic progress leads to broad improvements across life domains , not just greater economic capacity , '' the report said .
Denmark , Norway , Switzerland , the Netherlands and Sweden are the world 's happiest countries . Rwanda , Burundi , the Central African Republic , Benin and Togo are the least satisfied with their lives . The United States ranked 17th , while the UK was 22nd of the 156 nations surveyed . Egypt had the greatest fall of happiness levels in the past five years , the report said .