Gallup conducts surveys in more than 140 countries every single year and asks people about how their lives are going. The data are then compiled by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network into a global report known as the World Happiness Report, which announces the happiest country in the world -- and explains what makes its people so happy.
The seventh World Happiness Report is out today. The theme of this year's report is happiness and community. In addition to providing the usual country rankings of life evaluations, the new report focuses on how happiness has been changing over the past decade, and how information technology, governance and social norms influence communities.
You can read the latest report here.
As you read the report, you might be wondering, what does Gallup have to do with happiness?
The answer is that it was our founder's greatest interest. In the 1950s, the famous American broadcaster Edward R. Murrow interviewed George Gallup and asked him, "Any findings that particularly interest you, personally?"
Surprisingly, Gallup didn't say election tracking or presidential approval ratings -- he said "happiness." Fifteen years ago, we took our founder's passion and made it global. And now every year, we monitor people's happiness in more than 140 countries.
Read more about Gallup's involvement with the World Happiness Report.
