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World's most and least happy countries!
A new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development offers a comprehensive picture of people's lives in 40 countries worldwide.
It assesses 11 specific aspects of life ranging from income, jobs and housing to health, education and the environment.
The report ranks countries based on satisfaction with life and happiness.
Let us first take a look at the most and then the least happy countries.
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World's most and least happy countries!
India
Score: 5.00
World ranking: 37 out of 40
Good health may be the key to happiness, but money helps open the door. India, unfortunately, scores low on wealth, so its citizens are not that happy either.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Denmark
Score: 7.8
World ranking: 1
Even with increasing immigration to Denmark in recent decades, the Danish population is still more homogeneous than most other western European countries.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Canada
Score: 7.7
World ranking: 2
Statistics Canada projects that, by 2031, approximately 28 per cent of the population will be foreign-born.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Norway
Score: 7.6
World ranking: 3
Ethnically, the residents of Norway are predominantly ethnic Norwegians who are of North Germanic/Nordic descent.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Switzerland
Score: 7.5
World ranking: 4
Switzerland has a population of 7.8 million as of 2010. More than 75 per cent of the population lives in the central plain.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Sweden
Score: 7.5
World ranking: 5
The demographic profile of Sweden has changed significantly as a result of immigration since the 1970s.
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World's most and least happy countries!
The Netherlands
Score: 7.5
World ranking: 6
The Netherlands is the 61st most populated country in the world and, as of March 9, 2011, it has a population of 16,663,831.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Australia
Score: 7.5
World ranking: 7
Australia has scarcely more than two persons per square kilometre of total land area because most of the continent is desert or semi-desert.
With 89 per cent of its population living in urban areas, Australia is one of the world's most urbanised countries.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Israel
Score: 7.4
World ranking: 8
During the 1990s, the Jewish population growth rate was about 3 per cent per year, as a result of massive immigration to Israel, primarily from the republics of the former Soviet Union.
There is also a high population growth rate among certain Jewish groups, especially adherents of Haredi Judaism.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Finland
Score: 7.4
World ranking: 9
Finland numbers some 5.4 million and has an average population density of 17 inhabitants per square kilometre.
This makes it the third most sparsely populated country in Europe, after Iceland and Norway.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Ireland
Score: 7.3
World ranking: 10
In 2008, Ireland had the highest birth rate (18.1 per 1,000), lowest death rate (6.1 per 1,000) and highest net-migration rate (14.1 per 1,000) in the entire European Union.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Austria
Score: 7.2
World ranking: 11
According to the 2001 population census, 88.6 per cn are native German speakers while the remaining 11.4 per cent speak several minority languages.
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World's most and least happy countries!
The United States
Score: 7.2
World ranking: 12
As of October 22, 2011, the United States has a total resident population of 312,427,000, making it the third most populous country in the world.
It is a very urbanised population, with 82 per cent residing in cities and suburbs.
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World's most and least happy countries!
New Zealand
Score: 7.2
World ranking: 13
New Zealanders, informally known as "Kiwis", predominantly live in urban areas within the North Island.
The four largest cities are Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Luxembourg
Score: 7.2
World ranking: 14
The foreign population resident in Luxembourg currently numbers over 170.700, corresponding to 38 per cent of the total population.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Great Britain
Score: 7
World ranking: 15
According to the 2001 census, the total population of the United Kingdom was 58,789,194 - the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the 21st-largest in the world.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Slovenia
Score: 6.1
World ranking: 27
The majority of Slovenia's population is Slovene (83.06 per cent).
Hungarians and Italians have the status of indigenous minorities under the Constitution of Slovenia, which guarantees them seats in the National Assembly.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Slovakia
Score: 6.1
World ranking: 28
The majority of the 5.4 million inhabitants of Slovakia are Slovak (85.5 per cent).
Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority (9.7 per cent) and are concentrated in the southern and eastern regions of Slovakia.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Japan
Score: 6.1
World ranking: 29
As of March 2009, Japan's population is 127,076,183, making it the world's 10th most populated country.
Its size can be attributed to fast growth rates experienced during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Poland
Score: 5.8
World ranking: 30
For many centuries, until the end of Second World War, the Polish population was composed of many significant ethnic minorities.
The population of Poland decreased due to the losses sustained during World War II, and became one of the most ethnically homogeneous in Europe as a result of radically altered borders after the war.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Greece
Score: 5.8
World ranking: 31
As of January 2008, the population of Greece is estimated at 11,262,000 by Eurostat.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Turkey
Score: 5.5
World ranking: 32
As of 2010, the population of Turkey is estimated to be 73.7 million with a growth rate of 1.21per cent per annum (2009 figure).
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World's most and least happy countries!
Indonesia
Score: 5.5
World ranking: 33
The population of Indonesia according to the 2010 national census is 237.6 million, with 58 per cent living on the island of Java, the world's most populous island.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Russia
Score: 5.3
World ranking: 34
According to the 2002 census, ethnic Russians make up 80 per cent of the total population, while six other ethnicities have a population exceeding one million.
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World's most and least happy countries!
South Africa
Score: 5.2
World ranking: 35
South Africa is home to an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants, including some 3 million Zimbabweans.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Estonia
Score: 5.1
World ranking: 36
Estonians have strong ties to the Nordic countries and Germany stemming from the strong cultural and religious influences gained over centuries during Danish, German and Swedish rule and settlement.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Portugal
Score: 4.9
World ranking: 38
As of 2010 Portugal had 10,735,765 inhabitants. Portugal is a fairly homogeneous country linguistically and religiously.
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World's most and least happy countries!
Hungary
Score: 4.7
World ranking: 39
For 93.6 per cent of the population, the mother language is Hungarian. The main minority group are the Roma.
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World's most and least happy countries!
China
Score: 4.7
World ranking: 40
The population of Mainland China, at over 1.3 billion, greatly exceeds that of the remainder of China.
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