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The past few years have been a horrible time for billions of people around the world.
Besides the usual cluster of natural disasters, war has reached Europe for the first time since 1945, and the COVID-19 pandemic has stalked the globe killing the rich and poor without discrimination.
Despite the mayhem and catastrophe, some people have found their happy place.
And scientists collating the 2023 World Happiness Report for the United Nations have put a name on the happiest place in the world – and for the sixth year in a row, it’s Finland.
Released a week ago on the International Day of Happiness (March 20th), the report argues that the best measure of a country’s success is how happy the people there are.
To record the level of happiness, researchers polled countries to determine the overall levels of life satisfaction.
As a twist on the results, iXpats has taken the happiness results to build a list of how happy the favourite destinations for expats score.
Table of contents
Happy Rankings For UK Expat Favoured Destinations
This table ranks countries by the number of expats moving there and then gives their happiness rating. This rating comprises a score for wealth, social support, life expectancy, health, charity giving, corruption and democratic freedom.
So, Finland is the world’s happy place but only ranks 69th out of 138 countries as a UK expat destination, while Australia is the hotspot for Brits abroad but only ranks 12th on the happy list.
The table covers the top 20 overseas destinations for British expats.
| Ranking | Country | No of UK expats | Happiness rating | Happy ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 1,500,000 | 7.10 | 12 |
| 2 | Spain | 761,000 | 6.43 | 32 |
| 3 | United States | 678,000 | 6.89 | 15 |
| 4 | Canada | 603,000 | 6.96 | 13 |
| 5 | Ireland | 291,000 | 6.91 | 14 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 215,000 | 7.12 | 10 |
| 7 | South Africa | 212,000 | 5.28 | 85 |
| 8 | France | 200,000 | 6.66 | 21 |
| 9 | Germany | 115,000 | 6.89 | 16 |
| 10 | Portugal | 60,000 | 5.20 | 56 |
| 11 | Cyprus | 59,000 | 6.13 | 46 |
| 12 | United Arab Emirates | 55,000 | 6.57 | 26 |
| 13 | Pakistan | 47,000 | 4.56 | 108 |
| 14 | Singapore | 45,000 | 6.59 | 25 |
| 15 | Switzerland | 45,000 | 7.24 | 8 |
| 16 | Netherlands | 44,000 | 7.40 | 5 |
| 17 | Israel | 44,000 | 7.47 | 4 |
| 18 | Thailand | 41,000 | 5.84 | 60 |
| 19 | China (excluding Hong Kong) | 36,000 | 5.82 | 64 |
| 20 | Turkey | 34,000 | 4.61 | 106 |
| UK | 6.796 | 19 |
The table below takes the rankings from the World Happiness Report and compares them to the places where most expats live.
Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and the UK appear in the rankings but do not show in the list of hot destinations for expats.
| Ranking | Country | No of UK expats | Expat popularity ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finland | 2800 | 69 |
| 2 | Denmark | 11000 | 39 |
| 3 | Iceland | 940 | 104 |
| 4 | Israel | 44000 | 17 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 44000 | 16 |
| 6 | Sweden | 18000 | 31 |
| 7 | Norway | 15000 | 33 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 45000 | 15 |
| 9 | Luxembourg | – | – |
| 10 | New Zealand | 215000 | 6 |
| 11 | Austria | 8500 | 45 |
| 12 | Australia | 1,300,000 | 1 |
| 13 | Canada | 603,000 | 4 |
| 14 | Ireland | 291,000 | 5 |
| 15 | USA | 678,000 | 3 |
| 16 | Germany | 115,000 | 9 |
| 17 | Belgium | 28000 | 23 |
| 18 | Czech Republic | – | – |
| 19 | UK | – | – |
| 20 | Lithuania | 290 | 135 |
The tables reveal one possibility – expats move for reasons other than happiness. No Scandinavian countries rank in the top 30 expat destinations, although the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand rank high.
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The World’s Unhappiest Places
Many would believe Ukraine and Russia were not happy places due to the year of war that has seen the unnecessary deaths of thousands of civilians and troops.
However, Russia ranks 70th on the list, and Ukraine follows at 94th place out of 138 nations surveyed.
This table compares the bottom 20 rankings with UK expat destinations.
| Happy ranking | Country | No of UK expats | Expat popularity ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 117 | Myanmar | 460 | 123 |
| 118 | Bangladesh | 9200 | 43 |
| 119 | Gambia | 1500 | 90 |
| 120 | Mali | <100 | – |
| 121 | Egypt | 14000 | 34 |
| 122 | Togo | <100 | – |
| 123 | Jordan | <100 | – |
| 124 | Ethiopia | 1300 | 94 |
| 125 | Liberia | <100 | – |
| 126 | India | 32000 | 21 |
| 127 | Madagascar | 300 | 134 |
| 128 | Zambia | <100 | – |
| 129 | Tanzania | <100 | – |
| 130 | Comoros | <100 | – |
| 131 | Malawi | 7400 | 50 |
| 132 | Botswana | 5000 | 55 |
| 133 | Congo | 390 | 125 |
| 134 | Zimbabwe | <100 | – |
| 135 | Sierra Leone | 2000 | 82 |
| 136 | Lebanon | 2200 | 78 |
| 137 | Afghanistan | 900 | 107 |
Afghanistan, ruled by strict Islamic law by the Taliban, is the unhappiest country in the world – but all the rest making up the bottom 10, are African countries.
So it’s likely the number of Brits in Afghanistan has dropped considerably since the country fell to the Taliban.
What About The UK?
Britain ranks 19th on the happy list and is known worldwide as one of the major developed countries for asylum and economic migration.
Expat Happiness FAQ
The United Nations collects data from 138 countries, asking people questions like how safe they feel, if their government is corrupt and how satisfied they are with their lives. Analysts then collate the data and come up with a score. It’s this score that ranks the country.
The hunt for happiness covers 138 out of 193 member states of the United Nations.
Each year, 1,000 people in each country are quizzed for the World Happiness Report. Responses from the three most recent years are then collected as data. The UN feels this sample size is adequate to extrapolate results for the entire population.
Dystopia is the opposite of the concept of Utopia – the perfect country which top scores in each category. Dystopia is the benchmark for comparing countries, as none should compare as badly as Dystopia.
Life would be unbearable in a country with the world’s lowest incomes, lowest life expectancy, lowest generosity, most corruption, least freedom, and least social support.
Bhutan is where happiness as a measure of successful government started in 2010. Bhutan sponsored the UN resolution that led to the establishment of the annual report. The country does not feature in this year’s rankings.
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