Belgium ranks 18th in list of happiest countries

Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the UN's 2016 World Happiness Report update. Belgium comes in 18th place in the study, writes Het Laatste Nieuws.

The fourth edition of the World Happiness Report, which ranks 156 countries by their inhabitants' overall sense of well-being, again indicated Denmark as the world's happiest country (as in 2013), followed by Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.

The US ranks 13th in the list, Germany 16th, Belgium 18th, the UK 23rd and France 32nd. Burundi comes in at the bottom of the list due to severe political unrest there, preceded by Syria, Togo, Afghanistan, Benin and Rwanda.

The participants in the survey were asked to evaluate their lives on a ladder scale of zero to 10. The researchers were able to define six key categories: gross domestic product per capita, social support, health and life expectancy, personal freedom, charitable giving and perceived corruption.

The report reveals, among other findings, that inequality is strongly associated with unhappiness.