Nigeria has been ranked the fifth-happiest nation in Africa and 91st globally according to the 2018 United Nations World Happiness Report.
In 2016, Nigeria stood at 103 in the world and 6th in Africa respectively.
The country then moved up from its position of 95 in 2017 at the global level, indicating that Nigerians are happier people now, despite the nation’s economic and security challenges.
The 2018 report assessed 156 countries happiness levels based on six factors – per capita Gross Domestic Product, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, social support and absence of corruption in government or business.
It comes at a time when the Federal Government is being criticised for what some have described as its failure to live up to one of its key campaign promises – waging war against corruption.
The Buhari administration has also come under major criticism for what many have described as its failure to provide the basic needs of the masses which chiefly, is providing security.
With growing herdsmen attacks in states across the country, as well as a recent abduction of students from the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC) Dapchi, in Yobe state, many may be far from happy but the government has, however, promised to continue to “do its best” to ensure the killings are brought to an end.
Also on the WHR, Mauritius has ranked the happiest country in Africa, followed by crisis-torn Libya, Algeria and Morocco.
Finland topped the ranking as the happiest nation globally.
In addition to its joyful locals, the nation is also home to the happiest immigrants, the study found.
The Nordic nation headed up the 156-country ranking, followed by last year’s winner Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland.
The United States and the United Kingdom were in 18th and 19th place respectively.
The issue of migration was placed at the heart of the 2018 report, which also ranked 117 countries according to the happiness of their immigrants.
With a population of around 5.5 million people, Finland counted some 300,000 foreigners in 2016.
“The most striking finding of the report is the remarkable consistency between the happiness of immigrants and the locally born,” said John Helliwell, co-editor of the report and a professor at the University of British Columbia.
The study found that the 10 happiest countries in the overall rankings also scored highest on immigrant happiness, suggesting that migrants’ well-being depends primarily on the quality of life in their adopted home.
“Those who move to happier countries gain, while those who move to less happy countries lose,” added Helliwell.
The unhappiest nation was Burundi whose leader, President Pierre Nkurunziza, changed his title from “eternal supreme guide” to “visionary” this week.
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