Norway tops the global happiness rankings, moving up from 4th place in 2016, followed closely by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland, according to new rankings from the World Happiness Report 2017 , released today, 20 March – World Happiness Day – by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The first World Happiness Report was published in 2012, and since then, happiness is increasingly considered to be a measure of social progress and a goal of public policy. In 2016, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) committed itself “to redefine the growth narrative to put people’s wellbeing at the centre of governments’ efforts.”

The top-four ranked countries all score highly on the factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance.

All of the other countries in the top ten also have high values in the six key variables that are used to explain happiness differences: income, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on in times of trouble, generosity, freedom and trust.

Finland ranks in fifth place, followed by the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia and Sweden, which are tied for 9th place.

The importance of social foundations to happiness is also emphasised in the report, which points out that about half of the differences in rankings are explained by things like having someone to count on, generosity, a sense of freedom and freedom from corruption. The other half is attributed to GDP per capita and healthy life expectancy – both of which also depend on on the social context.

Mental health is also extremely important to happiness, the report finds; in Western societies, diagnosed mental illness is more important than income, employment or physical illness to happiness; in every country, physical health is also important, yet in no country is it more important than mental health. In all countries, the most powerful effect would come from eliminating depression and anxiety, which are the biggest forms of mental illness.

The report also found that people in China are no happier than they were 25 years ago, despite growth in per-capita income; that much of Africa is struggling when it comes to happiness; and that happiness has fallen in the US, mostly due to declining social support and increased corruption.