World's happiest nations are...

Sept. 10 2013

by misterb&b

In which countries it is best to live in the world in 2013? According to the "2013 World Happiness Report " released yesterday by the UN, happiness clearly resides in northern Europe: Denmark ranks for the second year as the country where people are the happiest,  right before Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

It is interesting to note that of these five countries, four of them allow gay marriage and Switzerland offers registered partnership (same rights as marriage without adoption and use of medically assisted procreation).

The criteria used by the researchers who conducted this survey are partly very factual (GDP per capita, life expectancy), and partly more abstract (generosity, freedom to make life choices, perceptions of corruption). The evaluation of these criteria gives a score out of 10, which is then used to classify the 156 countries studied.

France ranks 25th, two places lower than last year. Apparently, the French feel less happy than the Israelis (11th), Brazilians (24th), Venezuelans (20th) and Costa Ricans (12th) but happier than the Germans (26th) and the Spanish (38th).

Among the destinations where life is harder for gay, Russia ranks 68th, Jamaica 75th, Zimbabwe 103rd and Iran 115th.

Photo: gay couple in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, where it is best to live in 2013 © myGayTrip.com