Ranked 118th, India shade happier than last year-OxBig News Network

Anshita Mehra

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 20

India has improved its position in the World Happiness Report-2025, climbing to 118th place among 147 countries, up from 126th last year. The report, released by the United Nations on Thursday to mark the International Day of Happiness, assesses countries based on social support, GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

While India’s ranking showed progress, it still lags behind several conflict-affected nations such as Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Venezuela. Meanwhile, Finland retained its position as the world’s happiest country for the eighth consecutive year.

Despite the improvement, Prof Rajesh Pillania, a leading happiness researcher, questioned the accuracy of India’s ranking, citing subjectivity and cultural differences in the methodology.

“Happiness is self-reported, making it prone to bias. The idea of happiness differs between collectivist and individualist societies. India, being a collectivist society, may not fit well into the framework used in these rankings,” he said.

He emphasised that relationships — a key determinant of happiness — remain strong in India, yet this factor is not fully considered in global reports. Citing the Harvard Study of Adult Development, he said, “The longest study on happiness found that relationships are the most important factor. In India, family and community bonds remain strong, suggesting that actual happiness levels may be higher than what the report indicates.”

Prof Pillania also pointed out that spirituality and religion, which play a major role in resilience and mental wellbeing in India, are overlooked in the ranking system.

Additionally, he criticised the methodology used in the report, arguing that self-reported happiness may not be reliable due to memory bias and diverse socio-economic conditions. “A national happiness score may work for smaller, homogeneous countries, but for a diverse nation like India, where people have vastly different cultural and economic backgrounds, a single average ranking may not be meaningful,” he explained.