Self-reported happiness vs. GDP per capita by country

% of respondents replying "very happy" or "quite happy" when asked "Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, quite happy, not very happy or not at all happy?"

Countries reporting
39
Highest
95.1%
Iceland
Lowest
60.2%
Bulgaria
Median
86.3%
Years covered
39
1984–2022
Data points
224

What the numbers show

Self-reported happiness vs. GDP per capita is currently reported for 39 countries. The highest value is 95.1% in Iceland; the lowest is 60.2% in Bulgaria.

The median across all reporting countries is 86.3%, and the mean is 84.9%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.

Over the past decade 23 countries rose and 16 fell. The largest increase was in Romania (up 22.7%), and the largest decrease in Nigeria (down 14.5%).

Self-reported happiness vs. GDP per capita: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Iceland 95.1% 2022 down 1.1% flat
2 Norway 94.1% 2022 down 1.9% flat
3 Sweden 93.8% 2022 up 2.4% flat
4 Mexico 92.0% 2022 up 1.5% rising
5 United Kingdom 91.5% 2022 down 1.1% flat
6 Poland 91.0% 2022 up 6.1% rising
7 France 90.9% 2022 down 0.2% flat
8 Netherlands 90.5% 2022 down 5.2% flat
9 Denmark 90.1% 2022 down 6.5% flat
10 Australia 89.6% 2022 down 2.1% falling
11 Brazil 89.2% 2022 down 1.3% rising
12 South Korea 89.1% 2022 up 1.9% rising
13 China 88.9% 2022 up 16.0% rising
14 Finland 88.9% 2022 up 0.2% flat
15 Spain 88.8% 2022 down 2.3% rising
16 Belarus 88.5% 2022 up 16.9% rising
17 Japan 88.3% 2022 up 1.3% rising
18 United States 88.2% 2022 down 5.3% flat
19 Germany 86.4% 2022 up 6.5% rising
20 Czechia 86.3% 2022 up 3.5% rising
21 Argentina 85.7% 2022 down 2.2% rising
22 Turkey 85.0% 2022 up 7.7% flat
23 Canada 84.9% 2022 down 10.9% flat
24 Estonia 84.4% 2022 up 7.1% rising
25 India 84.0% 2022 up 11.5% rising
26 Slovenia 83.5% 2022 up 2.8% rising
27 Chile 82.6% 2022 up 3.9% rising
28 Italy 82.3% 2022 down 4.0% rising
29 Hungary 81.3% 2022 up 4.6% rising
30 Peru 80.8% 2022 up 19.8% rising
31 Russia 79.4% 2022 up 17.7% rising
32 Slovakia 78.9% 2022 down 2.9% rising
33 Latvia 78.8% 2022 up 5.8% rising
34 Romania 77.9% 2022 up 22.7% rising
35 South Africa 76.4% 2014 down 1.3% flat
36 Ukraine 76.3% 2022 up 7.5% rising
37 Lithuania 73.7% 2022 up 12.2% rising
38 Nigeria 72.4% 2022 down 14.5% flat
39 Bulgaria 60.2% 2022 up 3.5% rising

About this data

Indicator
Self-reported happiness vs. GDP per capita
Unit
%
Source
Integrated Values Surveys (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
39 places, 224 data points, 1984–2022
Last refreshed

% of respondents replying "very happy" or "quite happy" when asked "Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, quite happy, not very happy or not at all happy?"