In the World Happiness Report 2025 released on March 19, Vietnam ranked 46th, achieving the highest ranking ever.
This is the 13th version of the annual report published on the occasion of the United Nations International Day for Happiness, March 20.
According to the report, the 46th position is the highest ranking ever in Vietnam. The average ranking that Vietnam recorded in the World Happiness Report was 75, the lowest was 96.
In Southeast Asia, only Singapore is ranked higher than Vietnam in the 2025 rankings, at 36th place.
The World Happiness Report 2025 is based on Gallup World poll data from people in more than 140 countries and territories. Countries and territories are ranked in terms of happiness based on the assessment of the average life of the previous 3 years, from 2022 to 2024.
The report was edited by Gallup, the Oxford Happiness Research Center, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an advisory board.
The survey asked participants to evaluate their overall lives, and the rankings were based on these assessments. The report then considered 6 main factors to explain the assessments: GDP per capita, social assistance, healthy age, freedom, generosity and awareness of corruption.
For 8 consecutive years, Finland has been the happiest country in the world. Nordic neighbours are also close to Finland, including Denmark, Iceland and Sweden, who are in the top group, keeping their position as in 2024. Norway - a Nordic country - continues to be No. 7 in the rankings.
The two Latin American countries Costa Rica is in 6th place and Mexico is in 10th place - both of which made their first top 10 appearances in the World Happiness Report 2025.
The top 10 also includes the Netherlands (5th), Israel (8th) and Luxembourg (9th).
Afghanistan (ranked 147) is once again at the bottom of the list. Sierra Leone (ranked 146), Lebanon (ranked 145), Malawi (ranked 144) and Zimbabwe (ranked 143) are the bottom 5 countries in the happiness index.
