Nigerians as Africa’s Sixth Happiest People; World Happiness Report 2017

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The World Happiness Report which ranks 155 countries by their happiness levels, will be released today at the United Nations at an event celebrating International Day of Happiness. The report, the fifth one to come out since 2012, continues to gain global recognition as governments, organizations and civil society increasingly use happiness indicators to inform their policy-making decisions. In addition to the rankings, this year’s report includes an analysis of happiness in the workplace and a deeper look at China and Africa.

Despite the economic recession, Nigerians are Africa’s sixth happiest people, according to a new report released on Monday that called on nations to build social trust and equality to improve the well-being of their citizens.
Algeria leads the rest of Africa in happiness, followed by Mauritius. Strife-torn Libya is surprisingly ranked third, ahead of Morocco.

“Happy countries are the ones that have a healthy balance of prosperity, as conventionally measured, and social capital, meaning a high degree of trust in a society, low inequality and confidence in government,” Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the SDSN and a special adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General, said in an interview.

His report also shows that Africans are optimistic about the future, with Nigerians the leaders in this regard.

“The majority of African countries rate life at present below the mid-point of the Cantril ladder scale in the latest available Gallup World Poll.

“This is not the case for average future ratings. Projected ladder ratings in five years’ time are uniformly higher than present evaluations across all countries on the continent. In fact, the percentage increase in future expectations of life is often higher among some of the least contented nations.

“Nigeria’s track record of such positive expectations is well documented. Cantril’s 1960s study already reported a difference of 2.6 points between the country’s average present (4. and future (7.4) ladder ratings.                               The question is; Are Nigerians truly happy?