Nigeria
The United Nations has ranked Nigeria as the 39th unhappiest nation in its 2020 World Happiness Report.
The report, which ranked 153 countries, was released on Friday, March 20 – UN’s annual International Day of Happiness.
It ranked Finland as the world’s happiest nation for the third year running.
In the report, Nigeria was ranked 115, placing above 38 other countries.
African countries that ranked happier than Nigeria are Morocco, Cameroon, Algeria, Senegal, Guinea, Niger, Gabon, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Benin, Congo and Ghana.
A screenshot from the 2020 World Happiness Report
The World Happiness Report is an annual survey by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations, which examines the state of global happiness in countries.
The data for this year’s World Happiness Report was collected from 2017 to 2019, The PUNCH reports.
“This year’s report focuses on the environment — social, urban and natural — and how these three categories affect happiness,” a copy of the ranking obtained by The PUNCH stated.
The top 20 world’s happiest countries according to the report are Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Israel, Costa Rica, Ireland, Germany, United States, Czech Republic, and Belgium.
The report described Africa as the least urbanised continent, saying it is “the only remaining continent where the rural population outnumbers the urban”.
It also predicted that the population of Africa will double in 2050, with Lagos State expected to expand by 77 people per hour between 2020 and 2030.
Part of the report read, “African countries will double in population by 2050 and more than 80 per cent of that increase will occur in cities. Africa’s largest city, Lagos, Nigeria is predicted to expand by 77 people every hour between now and 2030.
“By 2025 there will be 100 African cities with more than one million inhabitants, twice as many as in Latin America. Already 70 per cent of Africans are under 30 years old, accounting for about 20 per cent of the population, 40 per cent of the workforce, and 60 per cent of the unemployed.
“It seems that Sub-Saharan Africa is not prepared for its urban expansion and many African governments are trying to limit rural-urban migration.”
NIgeria unhappiest country’ World Happiness Report