African nations including Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone grapple with corruption, poverty and political discontent, dragging the continent into last place globally.
African countries dominate the bottom of the latest World Happiness Report, a leading global study on quality of life. Produced by Gallup, the Wellbeing Research Centre and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the report ranks countries based on indicators such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom, social support, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
The Nordic nations of Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden are ranked the four happiest countries among 147 surveyed, thanks to strong social welfare systems and economic stability. Finland tops the list for the eighth consecutive year, while Denmark, Iceland and Sweden also retained their positions from the 2024 ranking.
Least happy nations
At the bottom of the rankings, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Zimbabwe remain plagued by widespread dissatisfaction and socioeconomic hardship. Sierra Leone is now ranked 146th of 147 countries, second only to Afghanistan. Despite scoring relatively high on generosity (64th globally), it ranks poorly in social support (136), GDP per capita (120), perceptions of corruption (109) and freedom (106). Analyst Alpha Bah attributes Sierra Leone’s persistent unhappiness to “decades of corruption, weak institutions and centralised power”.
