
In both the US and UK, the ability to have your rubbish cleared away is an important determinant of happiness.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the list are a variety of countries which are less homogeneous but nonetheless either war-torn, close to being destitute and in the case of Burundi – which comes bottom – both.
Happiness is complicated


The updated World Happiness Report reflects on many of the same issues and it is great to see so much convergence of academic thought as schools, governments and NGOs start to engage with this agenda in a novel and meaningful way.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. It was edited in March 2018 to reflect new data.
We invite you to discuss this subject, but remember this is a public forum.
Please be polite, and avoid your passions turning into contempt for others. We may delete posts that are rude or aggressive, or edit posts containing contact details or links to other websites.