T&T FAILS TO MAKE TOP 137 HAPPY COUNTRIES

VIOLENCE-RIDDLED Trinidad and Tobago is not among the top 137 countries when it comes to happiness.

The 2023 World Happiness Report has shut out T&T in its listing, which is based on several critical metrics.

This is a dramatic decline after being identified in 2018 as the 38^th happiest country in the world, the highest placement in the Caribbean.

The tenth annual study is the handwork of the United Nations-backed Sustainable Development Solutions Network, in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, in New York, USA.

The report was unveiled on the occasion of the annual United Nations International Day of Happiness on March 20.

The report examined the period 2020 to 2022, and is based on people’s assessments of their happiness and evaluation of various relevant factors.

More than 100,000 people around the world were interviewed.

There were extensive analyses of a broad range of institutions and people, on such matters as satisfaction, relationships, income and employment, character virtues, social support, personal freedom, perceptions of corruption, and effective freedom.

There were also examinations of such factors as life expectancy, family, health services and social care, schools, community life, the environment, rule of law, and belief systems.

The study also assessed personal well-being, generosity, trust, and how the economy is performing.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are a vital component of the happiness agenda, the report stated.

Finland was ranked number one on the happiness index, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel, and Netherlands.

Sweden was listed in sixth position, ahead of Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and New Zealand.

This means that eight of the top 10 happiest countries are in Europe.

The next five countries, in order, are Austria, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United States.

The top 20 countries are rounded off by Germany, Belgium, Czechia (Czech Republic), the United Kingdom, and Lithuania.

The next five are France, Slovenia, Costa Rica, Romania, and Singapore.

The only listed Caribbean country is Jamaica, in the 68^th position.

T&T’s obliteration from the reputable list means that residents are less happy than those in such unstable countries as Russia (70^th), Congo (86^th), Venezuela (88^th), Ukraine (92nd), Palestine (99^th), Pakistan (108^th), and Afghanistan (137^th).

Before T&T’s 2018 listing, it had been on a steady annual climb and was in 43^rd position in 2016.

State agencies, including InvesTT, had used the credible placing as a marketing tool for the country.

Finland, which has a population of 5.5 million people, has now held the coveted global title for the sixth straight year.

The producers of the report said the Covid-19 pandemic did not make people around the world less happy, and that they remained “remarkably resilient.”

The authors said that during the health crisis, “positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones, and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness.”

But Trinidad and Tobago – which often describes itself as having the happiest people on earth – found no place on a prominent list that includes war-ravaged nations.

T&T, however, was previously named near the top of another international study.

Almost a year ago, the World Population Review ranked T&T sixth, per capita, in the rate of crime.0