Top 10 World's Happiest Countries In 2017

Each year, a United Nations service compiles a list of the happiest countries in the world, and this year is no different. The World Happiness Report sees a top ten that might make you want to emigrate. There's no room for the UK - too cynical and inherently self-deprecating; nor is there room for the US - where Candyland has been knocked down and replaced by Trump Tower. So where should we go for smiles and sunny faces this year?

10. SWEDEN

In recent years, the country that brought us ABBA and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been tumbling down this list. Eighth in 2015 and fifth the year before, despite its fall in the rankings, even making this list marks Sweden out as one of the happiest places on Earth. And no wonder. With a consistently supreme quality of life, excellent public services and attractions ranging from the Aurora Borealis and iconic ice hotels to Swedish Lapland and the Midsummer celebrations, this country is joy and beauty exemplified.

9. AUSTRALIA

Who wouldn't be happy when you can celebrate Christmas with a stroll along balmy Bondi beach? This surfing Mecca, where winter temperatures rarely dip into single figures, where you can sing the Auld Lang Syne in speedos and not get sectioned, where bleach blonde hair and backyard cricket are a way of life; Australia is bliss.

8. NEW ZEALAND

If you'd have suggested that a country with more sheep than citizens would be the eighth happiest in the world, we'd have thought you were baa-king mad. Once you take in the jaw-dropping and richly varied scenery that New Zealand has to offer, you'll understand why both sheep and smiles have found a home here. Just watch the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy if you want a real flavour of the awesome nature of this country.

7. THE NETHERLANDS

Happiness in Holland is not reserved exclusively for residents of either Amsterdam's red-light or coffee-shop districts, although we're told customer satisfaction rates are unprecedented in both. In fact, contentment is as central to the Netherlands as tulips, canals, or the colour orange. With a bohemian charm and horizontal way of life, who wouldn't be happy here?

6. CANADA

Canada is world-renowned as one of the planet's best educated countries. While ignorance may be bliss for some, it seems the opposite may also be true when it comes to the land of the caribou. Canada to the US is what Trudeau is to Trump, a friendlier, happier, and more glamorous North American neighbour. Whether it's liberal politics, the exportation of their other Justin (Bieber), or a particularly good night out clubbing (seals), there is plenty to smile about over in Canada.

5. FINLAND

Yours has to be a country of great merriment if Santa Claus can call it home. The prospect of a trip to Rovaniemi, Lapland, where a day at his grotto followed by a night of popping eyes while you watch the Aurora Borealis is not half bad. Its cities are free from air pollution, its ski resorts free from mass tourism, and its citizens free from troubles. Or, at least, relatively.

4.NORWAY

Who knew the Vikings were such a merry bunch? Our next trip to the Nordic nations, and dare we say it not our last, comes in the form of Norway. One of the most economically prosperous in the world, it seems money can bring happiness for some. Also one of the world's safest and most charitable societies, the friendliness of Norway stretches from its own streets to faraway lands. It's also got first-class fjords.

3. ICELAND

A juggernaut of the natural world, Iceland is panorama after panorama. Forget 'A Song of Ice and Fire', this country is a symphony in both. From volcanoes to glaciers, from geysers to goblins (a bit of Icelandic folklore for you there), the country's magic clearly transfers into enchanting bliss.

2. SWITZERLAND

A land of neutrality, chocolatiers, and tax loopholes, Switzerland has it all. That is, except a rich military history. As we know from 'Harry Potter', and our own life experience, chocolate tends to be the best medicine, so it should come as no surprise that the country that brought us Lindt, Nestlé and Toblerone should reach so high on our list. Perhaps if the latter's triangles were a little thicker, it might have hit top spot.

1. DENMARK

Merry Denmark, everybody's having fun. Free undergraduate education, free healthcare, paid hoiday and year-long maternity, Denmark knows how to treat its citizens as they ought to be. The country that brought us sweet, sweet pastry and Peter Schmeichel is well versed in customer satisfaction, and well worthy of its status as the happiest country... in the world.
source-msn