Finland Declared World’s Happiest Country - UN Report
Local Editor
Despite cold weather and long, dark winters, Finland was classified the world's happiest country according to a United Nations [UN] report.
The Nordic nation topped a list of 156 countries ranked in the World Happiness Report on factors such as life expectancy, social support and corruption.
Finland emerged as the happiest place even though its relatively little sun and low temperatures are often blamed for high rates of depression.
It vaulted to the top from fifth place in last year's report, nudging Norway down into second.
Burundi was named the least happy country. The east African nation is one of the poorest in the world, and has been plagued by ethnic violence and political turmoil for decades.
The UK remained in 19th place, while the US slipped four places to 18th.
For the first time, the annual report published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network also evaluated 117 countries by the happiness and well-being of their immigrants.
In 2015, more than a million migrants entered Europe, and a few thousand made it to Finland, a relatively homogenous country with about 300,000 foreigners and residents with foreign roots out of a population of 5.5 million.
Finland's largest immigrant groups come from other European nations, but there also are communities from Afghanistan, China, Iraq and Somalia.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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