ROME, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The ten happiest countries in the world are also the ones in which immigrants are happy, according to the 2018 World Happiness Report released Wednesday.
Finland was at the top of both rankings, with the happiest immigrants and the happiest population in general, according to the report, a survey of the state of global happiness.
It ranks 156 countries and regions by their happiness levels and 117 countries and regions by the happiness of their immigrants.
Finland was followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia. The top countries have high values for all six of the key variables that have been found to support well-being: income, life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust, and generosity.
Immigrant happiness, like that of the locally born, depends on a range of features of the social fabric, extending far beyond the higher incomes traditionally thought to inspire and reward migration.
The countries with the happiest immigrants are not the richest countries, but rather ones with a more balanced set of social and institutional supports for better lives.
The overall rankings of country happiness are based on Gallup World Poll surveys from 2015-2017. The immigrant happiness rankings are based on Gallup data from 2005 to 2017.
The United States ranked 18th in the report, dropping down four spots from last year.
