TIRANA, March 15 – The annual UN happiness index report ranked Albania the least happy country in the European continent for 2018, leveling with countries like Tunisia, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Bangladesh.
During the last three years Albania’s rank has fallen by 22 places, local monitoring services reported. In 2007, Albania ranked 109th, as opposed to its 112 out of 156 countries this year.
The list assesses variables such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, support by friends and family, charity data, freedom of choice in life and corruption perceptions – indicators presenting Albanians as the most dissatisfied in the continent.
The data, which is averaged by economists over three-year periods, also ranked Albania as one of the nine countries that have had the most worsened situation, along countries like Madagascar, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Yemen, Syria and Venezuela.
And despite common perceptions, weather seems to be generally irrelevant to happiness levels, with traditionally grey and cold Nordic places once again topping the rankings, while the US also saw a drastic decrease in happiness as the world’s largest economy faces a crisis of obesity, substance abuse and depression.
