Esplanade Park, Helsinki, Finland. Photo by Mikael Rantalainen

The world’s happiest countries are bright and sunny, tropical and temperate.

Right ?  Wrong!

Finland tops the list of the “happiest” in the 2018 World Happiness Report, which ranks 156 countries,  produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Only two of the top 10 – Australia (# 10) and New Zealand (#8)  in the southern hemisphere – offer climatic freedom from dark days, lengthy freezing temperatures, and significant snow accumulations.The so-called “Nordics” (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) seem to dominate the top tier year after year. Executive summary 

Amsterdam Canal by Aik Meeuse 2016 (Netherlands)

Here are the “happiest  countries” ranked 1 to 10:

# 1 Finland  # 2 Norway #3 Denmark # 4 Iceland # 5 Switzerland

# 6 Netherlands # 7 Canada # 8 New Zealand # 9 Sweden # 10 Australia

Geothermals in Iceland are popular for destination travelers.

“The top countries frequently have high values for all six of the key variables that contribute to overall well-being: income (GDP per capita), healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust (absence of corruption) and generosity.”

Aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef Courtesy of Business Insider

The report, now in its sixth year, ranks the U.S. at 18 (down four places from last year), Great Britain at 19, and the United Arab Emirates at 20. The data are  from the Gallup World Poll , with analysis by economists at  Columbia University, University  of British Columbia, and London School of Economics. Check out the full list and details in the 170-page report.

Two gentle sloping domes for the new Oslo Aquarium by Haptic, scheduled for 2020

Bicycling is the favorite way to travel in Copenhagen

John Helliwell, a co-editor of the report from University of British Columbia economist told the Washington Post, “the extent to which happiness of immigrants matches the locally born population….The happiest countries in the world also have the happiest immigrants in the world.”