World's Most Happiest Country: India ranked 126th in the Global Happiness Index of 143 countries, and Finland remained on top for the seventh consecutive time.

India ranks 126th among 143 countries in the Global Happiness Index. In this index released on Wednesday, Finland has topped for the seventh consecutive time and Israel is in fifth place despite the five-month-long war with Hamas. Countries like Libya, Iraq, Palestine, and Niger are below India in the index released on the occasion of UN International Day of Happiness.

The report was produced in partnership with Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR Editorial Board. It was first published in 2012 and for the first time since then, the US (23rd) has dropped out of the top 20 countries. The reason for this is the unhappiness of people below 30 years of age.

Afghanistan ranks last in the index, while Pakistan is ranked 108th. According to this, the youth in India are the happiest, while the lower middle-class people are the least happy. In India, older age is associated with higher life satisfaction and this is contrary to claims that a positive relationship between age and life satisfaction exists only in high-income countries.

On average, older men in India are more satisfied with life than older women, but when all other parameters are taken into account, older women are more satisfied with life than older men. In India, older adults with secondary or higher education and people from upper castes are more satisfied with life than those without formal education and people from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. India's elderly population is the second largest worldwide, with 140 million Indians aged 60 and above, second only to their 250 million Chinese counterparts, the report said.

Additionally, the average growth rate of Indians aged 60 years and above is three times higher than the overall population growth rate of the country. Satisfaction with living arrangements, perceived discrimination, and self-rated health emerged as the top three pillars of life satisfaction for India in the study.

According to the report, the largest increases in average life evaluation scores compared to 2013 were in Serbia (37th place) and Bulgaria (81st place). The next two countries showing the biggest increase in life assessment scores are Latvia (46th) and Congo (89th) whose ranks have increased by 44 and 40 places compared to 2013.

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