Trends in Happiness

The report presents data for the world showing the levels, explanations, changes and equality of happiness. The world has become a slightly happier and more generous place over the past five years, despite the obvious detrimental happiness impacts of the financial crisis (2007–08), as per the report. Because of continuing improvements in most supports for better lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, and of continued convergence in the quality of the social fabric within greater Europe, there has also been some progress toward equality in the distribution of well-being among global regions. There have been important continental crosscurrents within this broader picture. Improvements in quality of life have been particularly notable in Latin America and the Caribbean, while reductions have been the norm in the regions most affected by the financial crisis, Western Europe and other western industrial countries; or by some combination of the financial crisis, and political and social instability, as in the Middle East and North Africa.