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ZAMBIA has been ranked the seventh happiest country in Africa, the 2013 World Happiness Report has said.
The ranking places Angola as Africa’s happiest country, according to a new global survey of 156 countries released on Monday this week.
The happiest countries globally were Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands and Sweden in that order.
Angola “surprisingly” toppled last year’s leader, the perennial African paradise of Mauritius, according to the report.
Algeria, Libya and Nigeria rounded out the top five happiest countries on the continent, while Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and Lesotho were the next five African nations that were the most content.
No African country has been ranked in the top 50 of the survey, now in its second year, while the five lowest ranked countries were from the continent.
The ranking also threw up some other surprises, including placing countries such as Somaliland, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo well ahead of others perceived as more prosperous and stable such as Botswana, Senegal and Tanzania.
The report is sponsored by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network which was established by United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and comes ahead of the annual General Assembly.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were expected to replace the Millennium Development Goals which ends in 2015.
The report defines happiness both as an emotion (where you happy this morning?) and an evaluation of one’s life as a whole.
The authors say the survey is meant to contribute to the debate as to the direction of public policy and to push authorities to align such policy to what really matters to their citizens.
