The Netherlands ranked 7th-happiest country in the world, down two positions

The 2026 World Happiness Report has ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world. This is two spots down compared to last year and the lowest position yet for the Netherlands.

World Happiness Report 2026

Published every year in the spring, the World Happiness Report ranks 147 countries across the globe according to how happy their citizens say they are. The ranking is compiled using data from the Gallup World Poll, in which respondents are asked to evaluate the happiness of their own lives on a scale of one to 10. 

Using the survey results, the ranking also shows the estimated extent to which six different factors impact happiness:

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
• Life expectancy
• Generosity
• Social support
• Freedom
• Perceptions of corruption

All countries involved in the ranking are then awarded an overall average score out of 10, which is then compared to the benchmark set by the imaginary country “Dystopia” - home to the world’s least-happy people. The special focus for 2026 is exploring the link between heavy social media use and declining mental well-being among young people, especially among young girls and in western European countries. 

For the ninth year in a row, Finland has claimed the top spot with a score of 7,764. Iceland and Denmark round out the top three. Once again, Afghanistan took the bottom spot as the unhappiest country, with a score of just 1,446 out of 10.

Social media use impacts happiness worldwide

With a focus on social media, the latest edition of the report found that life satisfaction is highest at low rates of social media use and lower at higher rates of use, that social media is harming adolescents at a scale large enough to cause changes at the population level and that “if social media platforms did not exist, many users would be better off”. 

The report also found that social media use had eroded the social and emotional foundations of wellbeing for most younger Europeans, but that the impact of social media use on mental wellbeing also depends on whether it is used actively, for example, to communicate with friends and family, or passively, to scroll endless algorithm-suggested content.

Lowest position yet for the Netherlands

Dropping two spots in the ranking, people in the Netherlands are slightly less happy than they were in 2025. In seventh place, the Netherlands has never before been so low in the ranking. Dutch residents gave their happiness with life in the Netherlands an average score of 7,223 out of 10.

When it comes to social media, the Netherlands is trying to tackle the problem and has provided official guidelines suggesting the minimum age limit for social media be 15 years old. A growing number of people in the Netherlands are also in favour of a social media ban for under-16s, which is often discussed among government officials. 

10 happiest countries in the world

According to the 2026 report, these are the world’s happiest countries:

1. Finland (7,764)
2. Iceland (7,540)
3. Denmark (7,539)
4. Costa Rica (7,439)
5. Sweden (7,255)
6. Norway (7,242)
7. The Netherlands (7,223)
8. Israel (7,187)
9. Luxembourg (7,063)
10. Switzerland (7,018)

For more information and to see the full ranking, check out the World Happiness Report 2026.