Pakistanis happier than Indians: UN Report

Pakistanis has suffered a great deal from militant violence that engulfed the country four over a decade, but still the nation is happier than neighboring India and people of many other countries who have lived in relative peace.

Pakistan has ranked 80 on the list of 155 countries in World Happiness Report 2017 released by the United Nations on international Day of Happiness.

India ranked (122), Nepal (99), Bangladesh (110), Bhutan (97) and Sri Lanka (120) on the list.

The first World Happiness Report was published in April, 2012, in support of the UN High Level Meeting on happiness and well-being.

Norway surged from fourth place in last year´s UN assessment all the way to the top spot, according to the report.

Other top countries on the list included Nordic neighbors Denmark and Iceland, as well as nearby Switzerland.

"All of the top four countries rank highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance," the summary explained.

Rounding out the top 10 were Finland, in fifth place, the Netherlands (6), Canada (7), New Zealand (8), and Australia and Sweden tied for 9th.

The entire top 10 were affluent, developed nations, although money is not the only ingredient for happiness, the report said.

In fact, among the wealthier countries the differences in happiness levels had a lot to do with "differences in mental health, physical health and personal relationships: the biggest single source of misery is mental illness," the report said.

"Income differences matter more in poorer countries, but even their mental illness is a major source of misery," it added.

Another major country, China, has made major economic strides in recent years. But its people are not happier than 25 years ago, the report found. China ranked 79th in the study of 155 countries.

The United States meanwhile slipped to the number 14 spot due to less social support and greater corruption -- the very factors explaining why Nordic countries fare better on the happiness scale.