Ranking: The happiest places in the world 2025

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Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia all experienced a decline in their rankings this year.

The Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and an independent editorial board, has published the World Happiness Report 2025.

The top four spots on the list are dominated by Scandinavian countries. Finland continues to lead the world in happiness for the eighth consecutive year, with Finns reporting an average score of 7.736 (out of 10) when evaluating their lives.

Following Finland are Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden, with the Netherlands rounding out the top five.

For the first time, Costa Rica and Mexico have made it into the top 10, ranked sixth and 10^th, respectively.

10 happiest countries in the world 2025

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
6. Costa Rica
7. Norway
8. Israel
9. Luxembourg
10. Mexico

Looking at the APAC region, Taiwan has climbed four positions this year, emerging as the happiest place in the region.

Most places on the list, however, experienced a decline in their rankings this year, including Singapore (-4), Hong Kong (-2), Malaysia (-5), Japan (-4), and South Korea (-6).

Notable exceptions were Vietnam (+8), and Thailand (+9), and India (+8), which showed significant improvements in their rankings.

The happiness rankings for the APAC countries and regions

11^th – Australia (-1)
12^th – New Zealand (-1)
27^th – Taiwan (+4)
34^th – Singapore (-4)
46^th – Vietnam (+8)
49^th – Thailand (+9)
55^th – Japan (-4)
57^th – Philippines (-4)
58^th – South Korea (-6)
64^th – Malaysia (-5)
68^th – China (-8)
83^rd – Indonesia (-3)
88^th – Hong Kong (-2)
92^nd – Nepal (+1)
118^th – India (+8)
124^th – Cambodia (-5)

The rankings are based on a three-year average of each population’s average assessment of their quality of life. Factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity, and perceptions of corruption, are also considered. While these factors help explain the differences across nations, the rankings themselves are based solely on the answers people give when asked to rate their own lives.