Happiest nation of South Asia, Pakistan, on the latest World Happiness Rankings moved 25 places and ranked 67th out of the total 156 countries surveyed. Such surveys are often criticised for their sample sizes, methodologies and the sampling techniques. However, given the fact that the countries in the region, including India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, are not so happy nations, the results don’t seem completely out of place.
In fact India dropped 22 places this year. Last year, India was ranked 118th in the world but this year the country slipped to 140th place.
The best ranks were, as expected, secured by the Scandinavian countries while sub-Saharan nations remained the world’s lowest ranking countries on happiness index.
The six reasons based on which the countries are ranked include,
- Per capital income
- Life expectancy
- Social support
- Freedom
- Generosity, and
- Corruption
The surveys said that 32.8 percent of Pakistanis donate to charities while 14.2 percent say they volunteer for some sort of social work.
