For the fifth year consecutively, this nation has been designated as the world's happiest country.

For the fifth year consecutively, Finland has been ranked as the happiest country globally, as per an annual report, and other Nordic nations also maintained their positions in the top rankings.

The 10th World Happiness Report by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, published on Friday, revealed that Finland's happiness score was "notably higher" than other countries in the top 10.

Iceland was in third place, with Sweden and Norway in seventh and eighth positions, respectively, while Denmark remained in second place.

The rankings of the 146 countries on the list were determined based on their scores in the Gallup World Poll between 2019 and 2021, which evaluated various factors such as GDP per capita, social support, personal freedom, and generosity.

During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, there was a worldwide increase in kindness.

According to John Helliwell, a professor at the University of British Columbia who helped edit the report, there has been a "notable global increase" in the three acts of kindness measured by the Gallup World Poll: assisting strangers, volunteering, and donations. Specifically, people were engaging in all three activities nearly 25% more than before the pandemic, he emphasized.

Despite the data collection occurring before Russia's attack on Ukraine, the crisis has prompted many people from neighboring countries to assist Ukrainian refugees escaping the conflict.

Nordic countries exhibited higher levels of personal and institutional trust and effectively managed the coronavirus pandemic, with 27 deaths per 100,000 people from Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021, compared to 80 in the rest of Western Europe.

The report highlighted the gap between Sweden, which did not enforce strict social-distancing measures at the start of the pandemic, and the other Nordic countries. In Sweden, the death rate from Covid-19 was five times higher, at 75 per 100,000 people, compared to the 15 per 100,000 deaths in the other Nordic countries.

The World Happiness Report's latest edition aimed to highlight the importance of balance and harmony, often overlooked and undervalued. As in previous years, Nordic countries, particularly, were found to have higher levels of this factor.

Discover the secret of the Netherlands' happiest children: What parents do differently.