Friday, March 22

We have a YNH Exclusive for our daily update today, which will do a deep dive into the 2024 Global Happiness Report!

Contents:

1. 2024 Global Happiness Report Released: Here are the Highlights

2. Fact of the Day

3. Quote of the Day

4. Word of the Day

This year's Global Happiness Report is out, and Finland has ranked as the World's Happiest Country once again. The system rates countries on a scale of 0-10 in terms of the population's happiness. They rate their lives and how happy they are, and the average scores are between 3-7. Here are the highlights from each continent:

North America:

Costa Rica was North America's happiest country (7.0), while the Dominican Republic was the continent's least happy (5.8), but it was still happier than over half of the countries in the survey. The United States dropped out of the top 20 for the first time, placing 23rd, and Canada was one of the only two countries in the top 20 with a population of over 30 million. However, similar to the Nordic countries of Europe, the old were much happier than the young, who tended to be much unhappier.

South America:

Uruguay was South America's happiest country (6.6) and Venezuela was its least happy country (5.6). Uruguay was the fifth-happiest country in the Americas, after Mexico, the US, Canada, and Costa Rica.

Europe:

The happiest country in Europe was Finland (7.7), while Ukraine was its least happy (4.9). Europe was the world's overall happiest country, with Northern Europe dominating the rankings. Across the entire world, Finland placed first (7.7), Denmark second (7.6), Iceland third (7.5), Sweden fourth (7.3), Netherlands sixth (7.3), Norway seventh (7.3), Luxembourg eighth (7.3), and Switzerland ninth (7.1). Western Europe averaged around 6, while Central and Eastern Europe were slightly less happy but still around 5.5 on the rankings. The lowest ranked was Ukraine after its ongoing two-year war with Russia, which led to its 4.9 rating on the happiness scale.

Africa:

Africa ranked as the world's least happy continent, and its happiest country was Libya (5.9) while its least happy country was Lesotho (3.2). Libya has managed to solve most of its issues to rank highest in Africa with a 5.9, while Mauritius placed next highest in Africa with a 5.8. However, most of Western Africa ranked around 4.5, and Southern Africa's average was extremely low, only around 3.5. 8 of the 10 least happy countries in the world were located in Africa, with the exception of Afghanistan.

The Middle East and Central Asia:

The Middle East had Israel as its happiest country (7.3), while its least happy was Afghanistan, which was the world's saddest country with a rating of 1.7 (an entire point below the next lowest, Lebanon). Western and Central Asia had countries across the scale, ranging from the upper end with Israel (7.3), UAE (6.7), and Saudi Arabia (6.6), to the lower end with Afghanistan (1.7), Lebanon (2.7), and Yemen (3.6), with everything in between.

South and East Asia:

South and East Asia's most happy was Singapore (6.5) and its least happy was Bangladesh (3.9). East Asia's scores hovered around 5-6, with South Asia having the lowest scores with Bangladesh (3.9), Sri Lanka (3.9), and India (4.1), and East Asia having scores a little higher, like Singapore's 6.5, Taiwan's 6.5, and Japan's 6.1.

Oceania:

Lastly, not much data was collected from Oceania, but Australia and New Zealand came in with very good scores of 7.1 and 7.0, respectively.

Overall, Europe was the happiest continent, with 8 of the top 10 countries being located in Europe and 5 of those 8 being in the Scandinavian region. The top 10 were Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Australia. Africa was the unhappiest continent, with 8 of the bottom 10 countries being located there. The bottom 10 were Afghanistan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Eswatini, and Zambia.

Fact of the Day: In Montana, it is illegal to play "folf," or frisbee golf. Playing "folf" anywhere not designated a "folf course" could cost you $500 or up to 6 months in jail.

Quote of the Day: It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. (Sir Edmund Hillary)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Scurrilous (adj)- Scurrilous is a formal adjective that most often describes language that contains obscenities, abuse, or, especially, slander—that is, a false statement that damages a person’s reputation. Scurrilous can also describe someone who uses or tends to use scurrilous language, or it can describe a person or thing as evil or vulgar.

In a Sentence: The press secretary made a point at the briefing not to address the scurrilous rumors surrounding the senator.