Thursday March 28th, 2024
Download SceneNow app
Copied

Egypt Climbs 16 Places in 2017 World Happiness Report

Egypt has moved up 16 places in this year’s World Happiness Report, placing us 104th out of 155 countries surveyed.

Staff Writer

It seems that all of the eh el nakad da's and all of the ma tefarfesh ba2a’s have actually paid off because Egypt has officially moved up 16 places in level of happiness, according to the 2017 World Happiness Report. Out of 155 countries surveyed, Egypt ranked 104 this year, as opposed to 120 in last year’s report. 

But this change is only relative; the overall standard of happiness has dropped worldwide, meaning that more countries have become unhappier than Egypt, causing us to move up in rank. In fact, since 2007, Egypt's happiness score has dropped 0.06, standing at 4.7. Low levels of income and a lack of social support are largely responsible for Egyptians' increasing unhappiness.

In the African context, Algeria is the happiest country in the continent (with a score of 5.9), Egypt ranks 9th place, and the Central African Republic bears the lowest level of happiness in the continent, and in the world, scoring 2.7.

In the Arab World, the United Arab Emirates tops the charts in first place with a score of 6.6 - 21st place globally - and Egypt sits at 14th place - one spot after Palestine. Topping the charts globally this year was Norway with a score of 7.3.

The World Happiness Report ranks countries based on empirical and subjective data collected by researchers regarding income, social support, health and life expectancy, freedom of choice, generosity, and perception of corruption. It also pitches academic explanations and criteria for determining each set of data.

Despite the poverty that burdens much of Africa, including Egypt, the report states that many African countries still didn't drop as much as Italy, Spain, and Greece. This shows that "Africa's optimism may be exceptional. African people demonstrate ingenuity that makes life bearable even under less than perfect circumstances.” 

It seems that we now have researched data and academic explanations to prove that we can humour the most difficult situations, even if our national happiness does not indicate so.

You can view the 2017 World Happiness Report here.

Photo: Pedro Ugarte