Kenya Ranked 27th Unhappiest Country in the World

A new global report has ranked Kenya the 27th unhappiest country in the world. 

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network's 2022 World Happiness Report placed Kenya at position 119 out of 146 countries. The country jumped three places from last year's happiness index, which ranked Kenya 121st out of 149 countries.

This year’s happiness report says Kenyan respondents cited perceived government corruption as the main source of their dissatisfaction.

At position 52 in the world, Mauritius is the happiest country in Africa followed by Libya, Ivory Coast, South Africa, and the Gambia. Kenya was ranked 23rd happiest nation on the continent.

Uganda, which is the happiest East African Community (EAC) member state was ranked 117th worldwide while Ethiopia and Tanzania were ranked 131st and 139th respectively. Rwanda is the unhappiest country in the EAC, coming at the bottom four on the global index ahead of Zimbabwe, Lebanon, and Afghanistan.

For the fifth year in a row, Finland was named the happiest country in the world followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

The World Happiness Report, which was established in 2012, is based on people's own assessment of their happiness, as well as economic and social data. It gives a happiness score on a scale of zero to 10, based on an average of data over a three-year period.

This year’s study included data from social media to compare people's emotions before and after the Covid-19 pandemic.