Canadians aren’t as cheerful as they were last year, but they’re still some of the most pleasant people in the world.
According to the 2017 World Happiness Report, edited by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and UBC, Canada is the seventh happiest country in the world.
Although the top ten countries remain the same as last year, Canada dropped from sixth to seventh place, below the Netherlands.
The top ten happiest countries:
1. Norway
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Switzerland
5. Finland
6. Netherlands
7. Canada
8. New Zealand
9. Australia
10. Sweden
Canada was highlighted for its success in multiculturalism and integration. Although ethnic diversity seems to correlate with low social trust, Canada bucks this trend. Canadian programs that promote multiculturalism and understanding helped build social trust and decrease economic and social segregation, said the authors.
"Canada has demonstrated a considerable success with multiculturalism; the United States has not tried very hard," writes Sachs.
The World Happiness Report looks at trends in the data recording how highly people evaluate their lives on a scale running from 0 to 10.
The surveys were completed in 155 countries and cover three years, 2014-2016.
Six key variables were taken into consideration including real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption and generosity.
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