The 2025 edition of the World Happiness Report was released on Thursday, March 20, and Finland tops the overall list again for the eighth year in a row. Meanwhile, Romania landed in 35th, down from 32nd in 2024.

Finland is first in the most recent ranking, with Finns reporting an average score of 7.736 (out of 10) when asked to evaluate their lives. The top five is completed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

The United States (24th) fell to its lowest-ever position, with the United Kingdom (23rd) reporting its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report. Meanwhile, Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) both enter the top 10 for the first time.

Romania, now ranked 35th, previously reached a high of 24th but has also fallen as low as 90th, according to the country profile. It saw its biggest rise in 2021 and its steepest drop in 2012.

“Sharing meals with others is strongly linked with wellbeing across all global regions, but the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades,” reads the press release. Also, declining happiness and social trust in the US and parts of Europe combine to explain the rise and direction of political polarisation and anti-system votes.

According to other findings of the report, focused on the theme of “caring and sharing,” four to five people living together enjoy the highest levels of happiness in Mexico and Europe, but many people in Europe are living on their own. In 2023, 19% of young adults across the world reported having no one they could count on for social support, which represents a 39% increase compared to 2006.

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board. Country rankings are based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life.

The complete 2025 report is available here.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

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