Mexico does not improve in the world happiness ranking due to two main factors

Mexico ranked 46th in the ranking of the happiest countries produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). This document analyzes data from global surveys on how people evaluate their own lives. Within the ranking, it is possible to know the place of 146 countries, of which a ranking is made based on the average of the last three years.

On the other hand, Finland ranks first as the happiest country in the world for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Holland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and New Zealand. In the case of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, the one in the highest position is Costa Rica at number 23 while North America is led by Canada in the 15th position.

It should be added that the World Happiness Report 2022 reported a trend of increased stress, worry and sadness in most countries and a slight long-term decline in the enjoyment of life. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford University's Welfare Research Centre and editor of the report, pointed out that the lowest-rated countries are societies suffering from conflict and extreme poverty.

“For young people, satisfaction with life has decreased, while for those over 60 it has increased, with little overall change. Worry and stress have increased: 8% in 2020 and 4% in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels. On the positive side, the most notable change seen during COVID-19 has been the global increase in benevolence last year.”

To obtain the evaluations, key variables include per capita gross domestic product, healthy life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom to make decisions in life and perceptions of corruption. For this year's publication, the impact of the pandemic was also taken into account.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), the total population of Mexico feels on average 8.4 satisfied with their lives, this ranges from 0 to 10, where zero means “totally dissatisfied” and 10 “totally satisfied”, according to data obtained in the National Self-Reported Welfare Survey (EMBIARE) 2021.

Within these data, INEGI reported that the age range in which people feel most satisfied with their lives in 2021 was 18 to 29 years old with an average of 8.6 points, followed by people aged 30 to 44 years with 8.5 and finally the ranges of 45 to 59 years old and 60 and over, with 8.3 points each.

This March 20 commemorates the International Day of Happiness, which was established by the United Nations (UN) “to recognize the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal aspirations of human beings and the importance of their inclusion in government policies.” For this reason, every year the World Happiness Report is released, which celebrates ten years of existence this year. This resolution is the result of an initiative by the Kingdom of Bhutan, which considers Gross National Happiness to be more important than Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

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