The country has shown consistent improvement in recent years, climbing from 83rd place in 2020 to 79th in 2021, 77th in 2022, 65th in 2023 and 54th in 2024.
Vietnam remains the second-highest ranked country in Southeast Asia after Singapore, which fell two places to 36th this year. The two countries are also the only Southeast Asian nations in the global top 50.
Globally, Vietnam’s upward trend contrasts with many developed Western countries, where happiness levels have generally declined over the past 15 to 20 years. In contrast, several developing nations, including Vietnam, have recorded notable gains, reflecting improvements in economic growth, living standards and social stability.
With a score of 6.428 out of 10, Vietnam is among 21 countries that have seen significant increases in happiness compared with the 2006-2010 period.
The top five gainers in this group are Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, all in Central and Eastern Europe. Other countries with strong gains include China, Mongolia, the Philippines, Togo, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.
The rankings are based on responses from around 100,000 people across 147 countries and territories, who were asked to evaluate their own lives. The report is produced in partnership with analytics firm Gallup and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In most countries, about 1,000 respondents are surveyed each year, either by phone or in person.
Nordic countries once again dominate the top of the rankings. Finland remains the world’s happiest country for the ninth consecutive year, with an average score of 7.764.
It is followed by Iceland, Denmark and Costa Rica. Sweden and Norway complete the top six, while the Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg and Switzerland round out the top 10.
Costa Rica’s fourth-place ranking marks the highest ever for a Latin American country.
At the lower end of the rankings, countries affected by conflict continue to report the lowest levels of happiness. Afghanistan ranks last, following by Sierra Leone and Malawi.
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