The World Happiness Report by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) 2016 was released in which India didn’t make any improvement in its happiness quotient. Out of 156 countries in a global list of the happiest nations, India ranked 118. In 2015, India was ranked 117 and down one slot this year. India is behind countries like China, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Denmark tops the list as the happiest country in the world. This report considers following aspects to prepare the list of happiest countries. Such as account GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support and freedom to make life choices as indicators of happiness. For the first time gives a special role to the measurement and consequences of inequality in the distribution of well-being among countries and regions.

Switzerland was ranked second, followed by Iceland (3), Norway (4) and Finland (5). The US is ranked 13th, Australia (9) and Israel (11). The report said that India was among the group of 10 countries witnessing the largest happiness declines along with Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Botswana. Nations like Somalia (76), China (83), Pakistan (92), Iran (105), Palestinian Territories (108) and Bangladesh (110) are ranked above India.

Coming to the least happiest countries, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi are among them. The report was released in advance of UN World Happiness Day on March 20. Measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations and it reflects a “new worldwide demand for more attention to happiness as criteria for government policy”.